Language and power: Discursive strategies employed by interpreters in Ghanaian district courts

Akua Campbell and Samuel Gyasi Obeng

This paper investigates the power dynamics at play in interpreter-mediated discourse interactions in district courts in Ghana. Using audio recordings of authentic courtroom proceedings, we analyze the discursive practices performed by court actors, especially interpreters, and the ways in which these practices signal their power or lack thereof. We also examine the way language is employed by dominant actors to intrude on the liberty of less dominant actors in the courtroom and how this is sometimes resisted by the latter actors. Much research on courtroom discourse has noted a power asymmetry among participants, with judges and lawyers holding significant power over lay participants (Rigney 1999). Interpreters, as “insiders” who are familiar with court processes and with the legal professionals they work with, occupy a unique position, being able to exercise some leeway to widen or narrow this power gap (Mikkelson 2017). They do this by playing a variety of roles which, to varying degrees, indicate their alignment either with the institution of the court or with the lay participants. 

We couch our observations in Fairclough’s (1989, 2015) theory of language and power, which considers discursive interactions to be a site of power struggles where the participants wield and negotiate power. We also employ Obeng’s (2020, 2022) work on language and liberty, which examines the way powerful actors, using language, impinge on the “negative liberty” and “positive liberty” (Berlin 1960) of dominated actors.

Our analysis shows that interpreters in Ghanaian courts are tacitly imbued with an inordinate amount of power, which is generally exercised in the service of the courts. The interpreters in our study employ speech acts such as questioning, scolding and persuading to control the discursive behavior of lay court users (litigants, witnesses) in order to ensure efficient court proceedings. These acts impinge on the liberty of litigants as they are not free to engage the court in a manner suitable to them. Interpreters also facilitate the work of the courts by maintaining order and promoting court services. This study raises questions about the interpreter’s neutrality and professionalism and its findings could be useful to entities interested in improving legal interpreting standards. 

References

Berlin, I. (1960). Four essays on liberty. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power (Second edition).. London/New York: Longman. 

Fairclough, N. (2015). Language and power (Third edition). London/New York: Routledge.

Mikkelson, H. (2017). Introduction to court interpreting. London/New York: Routledge.

Obeng, S. G. (2020). Grammatical pragmatics: Language, power and liberty in African (Ghanaian) political discourse. Discourse and Society 31 (1), 85–105.

Obeng, S. G. (2022). Language and liberty. Legon Journal of Humanities 33 (1), 138–159.

Rigney, A. C. (1999). Questioning in interpreted testimony. Forensic Linguistics 6 (1), 83–108.