Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T02:07:44.465Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Susan Ehrlich, Representing rape: Language and sexual consent. London & New York: Routledge, 2001. Pp. ix, 174. Pb $26.95.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2004

Jack Sidnell
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada M58 1A1, jack.sidnell@utoronto.ca

Extract

In Representing rape, Ehrlich provides a detailed linguistic account of a sexual assault trial. The data for this study come from two sources: a university tribunal and a criminal trial in which complaints were brought against a single man, pseudonym Matt, on behalf of two women. While focusing in each chapter on particular linguistic details, Ehrlich traces their use across several contexts within the legal proceedings – direct testimony, cross-examination and the delivery of judgments. In doing so, the author shows how the details of language use feed into larger frameworks of meaning and legal practice.

Type
REVIEWS
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Atkinson, J. M., & Drew, P. (1979). Order in court: The organisation of verbal interaction in judicial settings. London: Macmillan; Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press.
Raymond, Geoff (2002). Grammar and social organization: Yes/no type interrogatives and the structure of responding. Ms., Systems and Practices Lab, Palo Alto Research Center.
Sacks, H. (1987). On the preference for agreement and contiguity in sequences in conversation. In G. Button & J.R.E. Lee (eds.) Talk and social organization, 5469. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.