Taboo terms in a sexual abuse criminal trial

Abstract

Taboo language in the courtroom has been studied rarely, if at all. However, in the case this article examines, such language is used frequently. Certain witnesses’ use of taboo terms actually becomes an explicit part of the argument for guilt or innocence, based on the ‘affirmative defense of mistake of age’. Witnesses and lawyers use these terms repeatedly during the trial. This article analyzes taboo and non-taboo sexual language in the trial: its wide range of forms and registers, and the linguistic features and distancing tactics that accompany its introduction into a formal situation. These include various types of hesitation and disfluency, disclaimers of responsibility, indirection, euphemism, and apologies. The article briefly examines how existing theories of discourse and pragmatics can explain such features. Lastly, an analysis of lawyers’ usage of taboo language sheds some light on its correlation to prosecution and defense strategies.