Corpus-based Research on Variation in English Legal Discourse

This chapter investigates how drunkenness is presented during criminal proceedings in courtroom speech by focusing on words meaning ‘drunk’. A wide range of drunken terms are used by all courtroom participants, which differ in force, euphemistic potential and style, and are thus employed to negotiate degrees of drunkenness in the interaction between legal professionals and lay participants. Fairly common amplification and rarer downtoning of these terms also contribute to their use in courtroom