2021

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SOCIOLINGUISTIC DYNAMICS OF GENDERED COURTROOM NARRATIVES IN THE PROCEEDING AND DECISION OF MURDER TRIAL CASES IN PAKISTAN
(UMT, Lahore, 2021) IRAM AMJAD
This study explores the discursive strategies and the linguistic choices used to negotiate and legitimate the gendered narratives by solicitors and judges in Pakistan's district and session courts. Fifteen murder trial arbitrations of these courts from the major cities of Punjab: Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan, and Bahawalpur were selected and analyzed. The thematic network of Wodak's (2001) Discourse Historical Approach and Shi-xu's (2005) Sociocultural Communication Approach (SCA) were taken as a theoretical lens to interpret how far the narratives of solicitors and judges were motivated by cultural dynamics. The data reveals that the solicitors and the judges constructed women's socio-legal identity, such as weak and submissive, caregivers, and respectable. Furthermore, they produced tethered sociocultural narratives that favor women in the legal discourses in many ways.