Intertextuality in Chinese Courtroom Discourse A Critical Perspective

Intertextuality, an important concept in semiotics, refers to the property texts have of being full of snatches of other texts. This paper analyzes specific and generic intertextuality of Chinese courtroom discourse. In the analysis of specific intertextuality, it is found that 1) "specific and exact news source" and "implicit news source" are indicated in the trials, while "seemingly real news source" is not found in the data; 2) "direct reporting", "indirect reporting", and "narrative report of speech act" are used in the trials, while "free indirect reporting" is not indicated. The analysis of generic intertextuality shows that courtroom discourse, especially the subgenre "evidence-producing", is not only a mixture of different genres but also of different styles.