Browsing by Author "Ireri, H. K."

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Forensic-linguistic Analysis of Grammatical Modality Features in Kenya Supreme Court judgements
(PAC University Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 2022) Ndumia, E. C.; Ireri, H. K.
Ideological Features in Kenya Supreme Court Judgments
(2022) Ndumia, E. C.; Atieno, C.; Ireri, H. K.
Legal discourse is characterized by unique grammatical, lexical and stylistic features which are meant to enhance clarity and precision in the legal content. However, from a critical perspective, some of the discursive and stylistic features used alienate the common person and elevate judges and lawyers to an ideological pedestal. This study undertook a Critical Discourse Analysis of Kenya Supreme Court judgements on election petitions and civil cases with a view to investigate the discursive features used to represent legal ideology. The study was guided by Critical Discourse Analysis theory and a qualitative research design was used. The population for this study comprised the judgements made by the Kenya Supreme Court since its inception in 2010. Purposive sampling was used to identify five judgements on election petitions and civil cases. Guided by the CDA theory, features representing legal ideology were explored and discussed. The features include use of lexical stylistic features, performative verbs, legitimation, presuppositions, argumentation, interrogative forms, metaphors, precedence and predication. These features were meant to create precision and authority in the Supreme Court judgements. However, from a critical perspective, it was imminent that the features led to elevation of judges and lawyers as custodians of justice while the ordinary person was excluded from the legal process. The insight from this study is applicable to Forensic Linguistics and legal drafting. Judges and lawyers ought to use language in such a way that the common person is not excluded. Technical terminology should be used when necessary more so in contexts that involve only the legal personnel. In legal contexts that involves the ordinary person, plain language should be used.
Positive and Negative Politeness Strategies Used by Kenya’s Members of National Assembly
(Open Access Library Inc., 2021) Njuki, E.; Ireri, H. K.
Linguistic politeness enhances proper interaction among members of the so- ciety. During social interactions, interlocutors try to protect their positive public self-image and want to be seen as valuable members of the society. Po- liteness ensures effective Linguistic politeness enhances proper interaction among members of the National Assembly as they interact with each other in parliament. This study focused on the speeches of selected Members of Par- liament in parliament context in order to find the positive and negative po- liteness strategies that they use. The researcher used politeness theory by Brown and Levinson (1987) to analyze, interpret and discuss the data col- lected. The data was downloaded from the Hansard and analyzed using con- tent analysis method. This paper used purposive sampling technique where only the utterances with positive and negative politeness strategies were se- lected for inclusion in this paper. Descriptive qualitative research technique was used in the analysis of data. A guiding card was used to identify positive and negative politeness strategies. This research found out that members of National Assembly use positive and negative politeness strategies to lessen threats to face. The findings of this study will add to the existing literature in the field of sociolinguistics and pragmatics. They will also help interlocutors understand strategies that they can use in order to communicate effectively so that both parties feel appreciated in a conversation.