Jonathan CRICHTON
University of South Australia, Australia

Communicative expertise at a crucial site: pseudolaw in court

Pseudolaw refers to arguments lacking basis in established legal principles, and associated with sovereign citizen movements and similar groups. It has attracted attention for its potential to undermine legal processes. Its increasing presence in courts across the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia has raised concerns about its disruptive influence (Hobbs, Young & McIntyre 2024). Research has focused on its risks to legal processes and the lack of legal merit in its arguments. However, understanding of the direct experiences of judicial officers and how pseudolaw manifests in courtrooms remains limited.

This presentation draws on a collaboration between law and applied linguistics that explores pseudolaw’s impact in South Australia and the judiciary’s response. It seeks to address the need for better information on pseudolaw and how it can be managed in legal processes. The data includes interviews with judicial officers and administrators, and video and transcript data of a recent court case. The analysis is informed by ongoing, iterative discussions among the project team of three academic lawyers and two applied linguists.

In the presentation, I argue that pseudolaw rhetoric evidences communicative expertise at and as ‘critical moments’ (Candlin, 2000), affecting legal proceedings, judicial responses and decision-making. Drawing on examples of analysed data, I focus on how this expertise challenges the work of judicial officers. By examining these challenges as critical moments, we gain insight into the discursive consequences of pseudolaw for courtroom interaction and the broader legal landscape. The analysis also provides basis for a reflection on the broader relevance of Candlin's (2000) account of 'crucial sites' for work between applied linguistics and professionals.

Bio
Jonathan Crichton is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics, University of South Australia, and Visiting Fellow in Medicine, University of Adelaide. His research has focused on projects with practitioners and clients in psychiatric, aged care, and legal settings that aim to enhance how language is used and understood at critical times in people's lives. He is Series Editor of the Palgrave research series: Communicating in Professions and Organisations; Research and Practice in Applied Linguistics; and Palgrave Advances in Language and Linguistics.

Janet HOLMES and Bernadette VINE
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

“How are we today?” Microaggression in the workplace

The concept of microaggression proves useful in exploring linguistic behaviour which causes employees to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome or unappreciated in the workplace. Microaggressions can be defined as any means by which a person is “othered” or sent signals that they do not fit or belong. The concept directs attention to the taken-for-granted presuppositions about appropriate sociocultural behaviours which impact workplace interaction. Examples include minority group members being complimented for speaking “good English” in countries where English is an official language, a lack of representation in a workplace environment (e.g., no pictures of minority group members on the walls), being misgendered (e.g., assigning ‘she/her’ pronouns when the appropriate pronouns are ‘they/them’), or being patronised and “talked down to” for a variety of possible reasons.

Using an interactional sociolinguistics framework and a social constructionist approach, we analyse microaggressions experienced by ethnic minority members, women and the elderly. Our theoretical model provides a means to explore the impact of societal norms and ideologies on day-to-day workplace interaction. Every workplace interaction can be viewed as confirming or challenging majority group norms: reinforcing or contesting the “culture order” (Holmes 2018). Analysis of microaggressions draws attention to such norms and provides a means to identify their often racist/ethnicist, sexist or ageist assumptions. Drawing on our extensive corpus of everyday workplace talk, we identify not only pervasive instances of microaggressions, but also ways in which their targets may navigate, resist and challenge such instances of “othering”.

Holmes, Janet. 2018. Negotiating the culture order in New Zealand workplaces. Language in Society 47(1): 33–56.

Bio (Janet HOLMES)
Janet Holmes is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Associate Director of the Language in the Workplace Project (www.victoria.ac.nz/lwp/) at Victoria University of Wellington.  She has published extensively in sociolinguistics and pragmatics, specialising in workplace discourse, intercultural communication, and language and gender. Her books include Gendered Talk at Work, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (6ed with Nick Wilson), and  Power and Politeness in the Workplace (co-author Maria Stubbe).  She also co-authored  Leadership, Discourse and Ethnicity with LWP team members Meredith Marra and Bernadette Vine. Most recently they have been analysing discursive evidence of microaggressions in different contexts.

Bio (Bernadette VINE)
Bernadette Vine is Senior Researcher and Corpus Manager for the long-standing Language in the Workplace Project at Victoria University of Wellington, as well as Corpus Manager for the Wellington Corpora of New Zealand English. Bernadette’s research interests include workplace communication, leadership, intercultural communication and New Zealand English. Her books include Understanding Discourse Analysis (2023, Routledge), Introducing Language in the Workplace (2020, CUP) and Getting Things Done at Work (2004, John Benjamins). She also edited The Routledge Handbook of Language in the Workplace (2018, Routledge).

Hans LADEGAARD
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

‘We become what she says’: Identity positions in foreign domestic helpers’ workplace narratives

For the 350,000 migrant domestic workers (MDWs) who live in Hong Kong, the workplace is also their home. It is stipulated in the law that MDWs must live with their employers. This works well for some who have a good relationship with their employer but for others, it is a source of tension, anxiety and depression. In this talk, I draw on a corpus of more than 500 narratives about MDWs’ lives and experiences that I have collected over the past 12 years at two shelters in Hong Kong and among migrant worker returnees in Indonesia and the Philippines. The focus is on the women’s narratives about abusive employers and about conflicting identities. The MDWs see themselves as helpers who have come to Hong Kong to help their families and their employers and to serve God through their work. The employers, on the other hand, see MDWs as commodities who can be traded and ‘sold’ like faulty goods if they do not live up to the employer’s expectation. I use examples from the women’s workplace narratives to show how language is performative: MDWs’ confidence is destroyed through the employers’ demeaning discourses, but language also has the capacity to restore and support the women in constructing new and hopeful stories about themselves. The talk also discusses how we as applied linguists can use our research to address pertinent social issues.

Bio
Hans J. Ladegaard is Professor in the Department of English and Communication at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Before moving to Hong Kong in 2006, he taught at universities in Denmark and the U.K. His research interests include language attitudes and stereotypes, intercultural communication, language and gender, narratives of migration, and pragmatics and discourse analysis. He has worked with migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong as a researcher and social activist since 2008. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Language and Intercultural Communication (Taylor & Francis).