The proposed research will analyze the ethnographic context of legal proceedings involving Yup'ik natives in Western Alaska, focussing on discourse strategies and their interpretations in relation to trial outcomes. Communicative processes, including translation/interpretation and the use of legal narratives etc., are hypothesized as strongly influencing courtroom interactions and possibly trial outcomes. Although informal observations suggest this, the hypothesis has never been tested, and the complex range of strategies used in testimony and questioning has neither been documented nor analyzed. The three PIs, a cultural anthropologist, a trial lawyer and a legal interpreter, propose to spend eight weeks studying public record tapes, conducting interviews, and observing trials in session. Subsequent discourse analysis will provide a basis for the testing of the hypothesis.
