¿Jura o promete decir la verdad sobre lo que se le pregunte? La práctica de la prueba como actividad interaccional en un juicio del Tribunal del Jurado

Most of the questions put to witnessess in court do not accomplish their basic discourse-pragmatic function of requesting information unknown by the questioner. Indeed, the institutional figures who conduct the oral examination of witnesses have full knowledge of the facts stated in the proceedings of the case and resort to multiple types of questions in order to elicit the desired responses. Adopting the perspective of conversation analysis, this paper aims to describe the relationship between the grammatical format of the question and its coercive power during the examination of witnesses. The suggested analysis is based on a case study, i. e., a trial held in 2014 at the Tribunal del Jurado (Jury Court) of Alicante, in the seat of Elche. The interactional role of participants in public hearings and the different strategic uses of the third turn of interaction in direct and cross-examination are also addressed.