《律师评价语言的社会符号学研究》以系统功能语言学的社会符号观为基本理论依据，以人际意义的框架为基础，采用了张丽萍采集的律师辩论语篇，进行了从材料分析、理论阐述到功能阐释的全程研究，对律师语言的评价特点予以深入揭示和描述，对其规律性进行了精确适当的概括和例证。可以说，该著作给读者呈现的是经过精心构思的写实描述，用学术思维展示了律师如何通过话语在法庭上完成自己的神圣使命以及他们可能遭遇到的困难。

张丽萍的这本《律师评价语言的社会符号学研究》从社会符号学视角入手，综合韩礼德学派的话语分析模式与哈贝马斯的主体间性，针对当前司法改革中的实践问题——律师的法庭辩论语言进行语言学体系构建与理论解释；在理性思辨的基础上，依托实地采录的法庭辩论语料库，有效利用中西话语分析的研究成果，从宏观到微观深入分析了律师在辩论中如何发表评价性意见，揭示了貌似客观的律师话语中所隐含的主观性态度及表现形式，最终论证了律师理性辩论模式的适切性。

《律师评价语言的社会符号学研究》运用语言学理论来探讨法律交际领域中的具体问题，具有跨学科研究性质，涉及语言学、哲学、法学等学科知识，体现了应用语言学的社会实践价值，因此不仅对法律语言学、话语分析、应用语言学等专业的研究人员与学生有启发意义，对从事司法实践或研究法学文化的学者或学生也有实践参考价值，也合适做英语、法律爱好者的阅读材料。

1 Introduction 1

 1.1 Research orientation 2

 1.2 Working definition 4

 1.3 Rationale for this study 5

 1.4 Objective and research questions 7

 1.4.1 General objective 7

 1.4.2 Specific research questions 7

 1.5 Significance of this study 8

 1.6 Research methodology and data collection 9

 1.6.1 Research methodology 9

 1.6.2 Data collection and description 9

 1.7 Organization of this thesis 10

2 Literature Review 12

 2.1 Introduction 12

 2.2 The construct of lawyer evaluation 12

 2.2.1 The origin of lawyer evaluation 12

 2.2.2 The constituents of lawyer evaluation 14

 2.3 Lawyer evaluation and context 16

 2.4 Lawyer evaluation in context: a linguistic perspective 22

 2.4.1 Lawyer evaluation identified in discourse 23

 2.4.2 Two dimensions for the positioning of lawyer evaluation 29

 2.4.3 Lawyer evaluation on the dimension of solidarity 30

 2.5 Lawyer evaluation in context: a legal perspective 36

 2.5.1 Major issues for lawyer evaluation 36

 2.5.2 Predominant legal ideology 37

 2.5.3 Habermasian interpretations of judicial communication 40

 2.6 Summary 43

3 Theoretical Framework 45

 3.1 Introduction 45

 3.2 Lawyer evaluation, context and the dispute resolution 45

 3.2.1 Socio-semiotic view of language 46

 3.2.2 Constituents of lawyer evaluation 46

 3.2.3 Legal contexts as determinants 53

 3.2.4 The presentation of lawyer evaluation 59

 3.2.5 Functions of lawyer evaluation in the trial 63

 3.3 The theoretical framework 65

 3.4 Summary 70

4 The Constituents of Lawyer Evaluation 72

 4.1 Introduction 72

 4.2 Lawyer evaluation as Affect 73

 4.3 Lawyer evaluation as Judgement 76

 4.3.1 Social Esteem 77

 4.3.2 Social Sanction 79

 4.3.3 Social Punishment 82

 4.4 Lawyer evaluation as Appreciation 85

 4.4.1 Reaction 85

 4.4.2 Composition 88

 4.4.3 Valuation 90

 4.5 Summary 93

5 Lawyer Evaluation under Contextual Constraints 94

 5.1 Introduction 94

 5.2 Lawyer evaluation under constraints from the situational context 94

 5.2.1 The situational context and its constraints 95

 5.2.2 Lawyer evaluation in confrontation 95

 5.3 Lawyer evaluation under the situation of culture 106

 5.3.1 Habermasian law and rational confrontation 106

 5.3.2 Lawyer evaluation in rational confrontation 108

 5.4 Summary 117

6 Discursive Construction of Rational Lawyer Evaluation 118

 6.1 Introduction 118

 6.2 Equal role relationship 119

 6.2.1 Underlining the common ground 119

 6.2.2 Highlighting judicial knowledge 123

 6.3 Multi-voiced discourse environment 126

 6.3.1 Projection 127

 6.3.2 Conjunctive adjuncts 131

 6.3.3 Dialogical comment adjuncts 132

 6.4 Diverging discursive community 134

 6.4.1 Positive evaluation 135

 6.4.2 Negative evaluation 138

 6.4.3 Graded evaluation 141

 6.5 Summary 145

7 Functions of Lawyer Evaluation 147

 7.1 Introduction 147

 7.2 Negotiating the determinacy in case facts 147

 7.2.1 Scaling the case presentation 148

 7.2.2 Graded judgment of case facts 154

 7.3 Negotiating the categorical boundary in alleged charges 158

 7.3.1 The interpretation of relevant legal rules 159

 7.3.2 Prototypicality in legal charges 162

 7.4 Negotiating the degree of law application 165

 7.4.1 The selection of a specific rule 166

 7.4.2 The degree of law application 168

 7.5 Summary 169

8 Conclusion 171

 8.1 Summary of the previous chapters 171

 8.2 Major findings and conclusions 172

 8.2.1 Major findings 172

 8.2.2 Conclusions 173

 8.3 Implications 175

 8.3.1 Theoretical implications 175

 8.3.2 Practical implications 177

 8.4 Limitations 179

 8.5 Suggestions for further study 179

APPENDICES 181

 Appendix 1 Transcription notations 181

 Appendix 2 Selected Trial Transcripts 183

 Appendix 3 Article 5 of the Law of Unfair Competition 189

REFERENCES 190