Sociolinguistic Construction of Women’s Identity by Solicitors in Murder Trial Arbitration

This study examines the sociolinguistic construction of women's identity by solicitors in five murder trial arbitration at the magistrate courts located in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan of Punjab, Pakistan murder trials. Ryan's (2004) narrative inquiry and Shi-xu's (2005) Socio cultural Communication Approach (SCA) were taken as theoretical lens to interpret how far the narratives of solicitors are motivated by cultural dynamics. The study reveals that the solicitors constructed the socio legal identity of women such as weak and submissive, caregivers and respectable. Furthermore, they constructed socio cultural tethered narratives, which in many ways tend to empower women in the legal discourses. The study has attempted to unfold the socio cultural dynamics which are used to exploit the judicial discourses in the favor of women as victims or victimized in the murder trial cases.