Being (im)polite: A forensic linguistic approach to interpreting a hate speech case
Carney, Terrence
In a hate speech case a court might have to determine whether a person’s words
were hurtful or harmful. Would it be possible to determine whether words are hurtful
or harmful by using linguistics? This article offers a linguistic perspective on a court’s
interpretation of the Equality Act in a hate speech case and focuses on speech acts
and politeness. If the speech acts of a verbal exchange are studied and the levels of
politeness are gauged, a court would be able to affi rm the hurtfulness or harmfulness
of the speaker’s words. The article begins with a brief discussion on the potential role
of the linguist in a courtroom; this is followed by a summary of the facts of the case.
Then the court case is analysed and discussed in terms of speech acts and politeness.
By employing principles in pragmatics the author reaches the same conclusion
as the court.
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