Investigating the Legal Discourse of Bill Clinton’s Impeachment Trial

This paper presents a legal discourse analysis of Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial held in 1998. The paper’s main objective is to explore the different meanings communicated by dexterous use some lexical and pragmatic strategies used interlocutors involved trial. More specifically, article offers linguistic study testimony statements President Clinton relating his focuses on three analytical dimensions: word selection, power relations, questioning answering, way these influence participants’ conversational performance selected To this end, draws approach as discussed Coulthard (2013) Mey (2016), focusing lexicalization, notion power, questions answers courtroom settings. overarching research question is: What are ideological targeted beyond words during trial? Results reveal that language powerful tool testimonies it helps extract information, verify evidence, draw outcomes, encode and/or decode underpinning participants. These, turn, serve support or defy evidence ultimately lead issue legally just decision.