Discourse dynamics in the courtroom: some methodological points of description

It is the aim of this paper to present an approach to, and some results from the discourse analysis of a Supreme Court Murder trial held in Victoria, Australia; and to discuss some sociological aspects that act as scenario constraints on this type of discourse; which (therefore) should enter into the discourse analysis of this type of talk. The methodological concerns dealt with include: details of the setting and how these interact with power-relations; rules of conduct; and the role of the individual as embedded within social context