ABSTRACT

This study enquires into the language of ‘dissent’ in judicial opinions. Dissent in judicial opinion refers to the written (published) expression of judicial disagreement, in a context where an appellate court is not unanimous in its judgment. Here the study focuses on the linguistic markers employed by the judges to show dissent in argumentative texts as proposed by Trosborg. The aim of this study is to identify selected linguistic markers which were used by judges in writing their dissenting judgment. Two case reports of the same case have been selected for this study, one at the Appeal Court and the other at the Federal Court. This Lina Joy case was selected as it is of high public interest with wide implications to Malaysian society. The mix method research design is drawn from corpus linguistic to draw the specific lexicalizations, while the frequency counts allow for a description and interpretation of the lexis. Microsoft Word Processor and Wordsmith Tools were used and  the data analysis from the two sets of case reports show that the dissenting judges employed modality such as ‘would’, ‘must’, and ‘could’ and adverbs of manner such as ‘illegally’ and ‘accordingly’ in their writing.  Based on the findings, it is very significant to note that those dissenting judges used linguistic markers to moot not only their viewpoints but also to reveal their ideology.

ABSTRAK

Kajian ini berkenaan bahasa ‘menentang’ dalam pendapat kehakiman. Menentang dalam pendapat kehakiman merujuk kepada expresi bertulis (yang diterbitkan) dalam ketidaksepakatan dalam kehakiman, dalam satu konteks dimana  mahkamah rayuan tidak mencapai kata sepakat dalam penghakimannya. Kajian ini memfokuskan pada penanda linguistik yang digunakan oleh para hakim bagi menunjukkan penentangan dalam teks perdebatan seperti yang dicadangkan oleh Trosborg. Tujuan kajian ini adalah bagi mengenal pasti penanda linguistik tertentu yang digunakan oleh para hakim dalam menulis hujah menentang mereka. Dua laporan kes bagi kes yang sama telah dipilih bagi kajian ini, satu daripada Mahkamah Rayuan dan satu lagi daripada Mahkamah Persekutuan. Kes Lina Joy ini telah dipilih kerana ia merupakan kes yang menarik orang awam yang mempunyai implikasi yang luas dalam masyarakat Malaysia. Rekabentuk kajian yang berkaedah campuran terhasil dari korpus linguistik adalah bagi mengkaji penbendaharaan kata tertentu, dan pengiraan kekerapan membolehkan interpretasi dan deskripsi bagi kosa kata tersebut. Microsoft Word Processor and Wordsmith Tools telah digunakan dan analisis data dari dua set laporan kes menunjukkan hakim menentang menggunakan ‘modality’ seperti ‘would’, ‘must’, dan ‘could’ dan ‘adverbs of manner’ seperti ‘illegally’ dan ‘accordingly’ dalam penulisan mereka. Berdasarkan penemuan kajian, adalah amat signifikan bahawa para hakim menentang telah menggunakan penanda linguistik untuk menunjukkan pandangan mereka bahkan juga turut mempamerkan ideologi mereka.

Acknowledgement

Alhamdulillah,

First and foremost, I would like to express my thousands of thank you for my dear supervisor, Dr. Noraini Ibrahim who had guided me throughout the completion of this thesis. Thank you so much for your guidance, advice and also for your meaningful moral support to keep me strong to complete this piece of my work.

Last but not least, to my best friends such as Faeiz, Nadia, Rido, Farhana, Asma, Hafizah, Suhaimi, Syuhada, Imtiaz, Azizul , Fairil, Baharim, Haswini, Rayne, Sangeeth, Mack, Syahrir, Mahadi, Hazirah, Anis, Umi, Fixd, Yan, Lydia, Wawa, Nani, Jalil, Abdullah, Mohamad Ali, Sina, Shebi, Deva, Punitha, Norsiah, Naza, Eja, Nur Akmaliah, Nur Amalina, Husna and so many more.  I want to express my thanks for their encouragement and support in so many ways. Thank you for these memorable years together. Thank you for everything.

At this very same opportunity I would want to express my special thank you for my beloved family especially for my parents who had supported me financially and their encouragement along the period of time for me to complete this work. Thank you also to my siblings who did not mind to share their ideas and opinions on how to improve my work. Without them, I could never promise that I have the strength to make this work a reality.