Abstract
The paper aims to explore documentary evidence in legal discourse from a socio-semiotic perspective and argues there is reconstructive and deconstructive nature in legal narratives and the hegemony in legal narratives can be regarded as conventional. Based on case studies relevant to Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance in Hong Kong, the paper finds that spatial manipulation and voice manipulation were employed as strategies by court to create legal hegemony in narratives. Unraveling such strategies helps to deconstruct legal hegemony. The paper concludes that documentary evidence is characterized by the essential features of a sign, which can be subject to the influence of spatial and temporal manipulations, because such kind of evidence is subject to multiple interpretations.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 165-184 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Semiotica |
Volume | 200 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2014 |
Keywords
- Documentary evidence
- Hegemonic construction
- Legal narrative
- Manipulation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language
- Literature and Literary Theory