The Linguistics of Rape: The Conceptualisation of Rape Based on a Qualitative Analysis of Supreme Court Cases

• In Event: Rape and sexual assault

Abstract

“While sexual violence involves very tangible things happening to our bodies, how we understand or make sense of these experiences, and whether we recognise and label our experiences as ‘counting’ as sexual violence, is deeply implicated in the language available to us” (Fileborn & Phillips, 2019).
This leads us, first, to the importance of the legal definition of rape, but, also, evidences the importance of the words used in judicial decisions. The phrasing of judicial decisions reflects the views and values held by judges and, possibly, the public as a whole, and can impact both the defendant and the victim. The first part of this paper will describe and discuss the definition of rape in the Albanian legislation and the doctrine. In particular, we will look critically at the legal approach to this crime and how it relates to legal definitions in developed countries and international standards. In the second part of the paper, we will explore the content and phrasing of rape-related judicial decisions issued by the Supreme Court of Albania. This qualitative analysis will span a period of more than 20 years (since 1999, when the Supreme Court decisions became available to the public). The analysis will look at the way judges conceptualize – and the words and phrases; in general, the linguistics of how they talk about – the circumstances of the case, the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, and the modus operandi. This analysis will enable us to identify the use and effect of stereotypes, nuances of himpathy and/or re-victimization.

Authors

• Brunilda Haxhiu, University of New York Tirana

• Adrian Leka, University of Shkoder