Linguistic markers of participation in international criminal trials

This study offers a sociolinguistic analysis of effective participation in a trial at the International Criminal Court through Goffman’s (1974, 1981) notion of “participation framework”, according to which the participant’s status is based on their ability or inability to act within a communicative event, as well as their rights and obligations to do so in a certain way. In particular, the study conceptualizes deixis/ indexicality as a potential marker of the participation status. The analysis concentrates on the main terms of reference and deictical expressions used for different participants in transcripts of the trial The Prosecutor v. Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona ICC-01/14-01/18, using corpus-assisted discourse-analytical tools. The findings indicate that the Court prefers to realize effective participation linguistically through the strategy of nomination (van Leeuwen 2002), yet divergent tendencies of linguistic representation are observed among different participants in the trial (Defence, Prosecution, Chambers, Victims and Witnesses, and Interpreters). The main opposing parties tend to discursively de-emphasize the participants, whose voice does not fit into their narrative. The analysis highlights that the participation status of a vulnerable category of victims is limited despite the Court’s innovative inclusion of victims in the trial through blended participation exploring digital opportunities. Simultaneous interpreters are ratified as both reporters and ratified speakers, debunking the myth of their invisibility.