This paper adopts a corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis approach to explore the pragmatics of lexical categories in courtroom discourse. More specifically, this probes extent which interlocutors employ particular lexemes achieve specific pragmatic purposes, which, turn, contributes understanding way language operates effectively within legal settings. The data used is taken from testimo...

In Cognitive Linguistic Critical Discourse Studies (CL-CDS), metaphor is identified as a key index of ideology and an important device in the legitimation of social action. From this perspective, metaphor is a cognitive-semiotic operation, invoked by metaphorical expressions in discourse, in which a source frame is mobilised to provide a template for sense-making inside a target frame, leading ...