Turn taking in Ghanaian judicial discourse

Abstract

Turn construction and turn allocation in social interactions have been studied from different theoretical and methodological perspectives, the most important and debated ones being conversation analysis and (critical) discourse analysis. Even though turn taking has been studied in informal conversations in Ghanaian languages, nothing has been done on turn taking in Ghanaian judicial discourse. This paper examines turn taking management in Ghanaian Western-based judicial interaction. Working within the conversational analytic framework and language and power, the paper investigated how speaker turns were managed, especially, how turn allocations were shaped by speaker roles and identities in judicial domains. Data for the study consisted of transcripts of nine hours of naturally occurring tape-recorded Ghanaian courtroom interactions comprising civil and criminal cases. The data were recorded in Accra and Koforidua between November 2018 and February 2019 and consisted of sixteen court proceedings and seventy-three speakers. Results indicated that turn allocation was managed mostly by the judges with the other court participants, especially the attorneys and interpreters, occasionally self-selecting or selecting others, mainly, the disputants. Also identified was that not all linguistic resources for turn taking were equally accessible to all participants. In conclusion, the identities and roles of the court actors determine and constrain the available linguistic and pragmatic tools needed for effective turn taking management.