Modal Would in Police Interrogations

7/28/2019 Modal Would in Police Interrogations

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Discourse Studies

DOI: 10.1177/1461445606064830

2006; 8; 475Discourse StudiesDerek Edwards

in police interrogationswouldFacts, norms and dispositions: practical uses of the modal verb

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Facts, norms and dispositions:practical uses of the modal verbwould in police interrogations

D E R E K E D WA R D SL O U G H BO R OU G H U N I V E RS I T Y

A B S T R A C T Two uses of the modal verb wouldin police interrogation are

examined. First, suspects use it to claim a disposition to act in ways

inconsistent with whatever offence they are accused of. Second, police of ficers

use it in challenging the suspects testimony, asking why a witness would lie.

Both uses deploy a form of practical inferential reasoning from norms to facts,

in the face of disputed testimony. The value ofwouldis that its semantics

provide for a sense of back-dated predictability with regard to the actions in

question. Further, although police off icers provide minimal acknowledgement

of suspects uses of the term, suspects tend to provide a response when police

officers use it. This difference is explained by the dif ferent actions being done in

each case normative self assessments by suspects, and challenges by police

officers and their interactional and institutional relevance in and for police

pursuit of factual testimony.

K E Y W O R D S : conversation analysis, dispositions, modality, moral character, police

interrogation, would

Introduction

Our topic is a specific, recurrent use of the modal verb would in police

interrogations. These are cases where a speaker formulates an actors

dispositions (in this case, what they generally would or would not do), in the

context of disputed testimony about having done something specific. The focus ison recorded interactional practices in which wouldregularly occurs, rather than

on the formal semantics and pragmatics ofwouldas a type of modal verb. That is

to say, there are other terms that may serve similar interactional practices

(including specific uses of should, will, and going to), and other uses of wouldthan

those explored here (e.g. Would you pass the salt?). The prime concern is with

how would is recurrently used in handling accountability, in and for police

interrogation. The relevance of police interrogation is not that these practices are

A RT I C L E 475

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restricted to that environment; indeed, they may also occur in mundane talk,and in settings such as court rooms and family therapy, which are fertile

environments for disputation about personal actions, events, and responsibility

for those events. But police interrogation appears to be a particularly relevant

setting, given the prime orientation of participants toward eliciting, offering,

examining and defending accounts of actions and their intentionality.

The basic practice is exemplified in the following data segment, which is

examined in more detail later in the article. S is a suspect being interrogated for

his involvement in the theft of cigarettes from a shop.

S: I didn push the woman or nothin, (0.5) I really

did not do that.= Im not that type of person

yknow what I me:an. .h Fair enough I stole the

ciggies, (0.9) I wouldn hurt an old lady.

The target expression I wouldn hurt an old lady occurs in the context of a

dispute about Ss testimony. Ss deployment of would(in this case wouldnt) not

only formulates something about his general disposition to act one way or another,

but does so as a way of saying that he did not do the specific action of which he is

accused that is, pushing (and in fact wounding) the woman in question. This is

the essence of the practice: a generalized, normative and dispositional use of the

modal would that provides a basis for asserting or denying a specific, disputed

action.

The analysis that follows focuses on two versions of the practice, the first

generally deployed by S, the second by P (the police officer).

1) Exemplified by I wouldnt hurt an old lady, this is the use by S of ageneralized dispositional formulation, a form of normative or moral self-

assessment, in denying a specific accusation. This example takes the

grammatical form of a negative-declarative use of I wouldnt; as such, it is

designed for denial. Another form of the practice uses a rhetorical question,

for example, What would I want to head butt an old bloke for? implying

that he would not, and therefore did not. The notion that this is a rhetorical

question relies on its understandability as such, and also the absence in all of

our examples of any direct answer to it.

2) The police officer P also has available a similar practice, typically something

like Why would she say that you did?, where she (or whoever) is the

producer of the testimony that S is denying. The grammar is an

interrogative-affirmative use of the modal would, designed to counter (or

question) a prior statement or implication. When used by police

interrogators, it counters the suggestion or implication that a witness may

have given false testimony against the accused. The suspect S generally

provides an answer.

Examining these interactional practices contributes to several broad fields of

study. First, it throws specific light on how police interrogations work, both as a

476 Discourse Studies 8(4)



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domain of mundane reasoning and social interaction, and also as a domainwhere the specific business of the institutional setting gets done that is, eliciting

and exploring testimony and counter-testimony, their factual basis, and their

relevance to whatever crime category S is accused of. For example, Ss denial of

having pushed and hurt the shopkeeper, supported by his assertion of a

disposition not to do so, is a key feature in resisting the accusation of robbery in

favour of the less severe offence to which he confesses, which is theft. Second,

the study extends discursive-psychological studies of the importance of

managing stake and interest in factual disputes (Edwards and Potter, 1992),

and related studies of how scripts and dispositions feature in everyday

reasoning about factual narratives and their accountability (Edwards, 1995,

1997). Would is one of a range of scripting devices (Edwards, 1994) that

formulate a persons recurrent actions and tendencies, as a basis for inferring orimplying their character. Examining situated uses of wouldis therefore part of a

general interest in how mundane practical reasoning invokes a range of

psychological states and characteristics of persons, often tied to the central,

defining business of whatever everyday or institutional setting they occur in

(Edwards and Potter, 2001; Sneijder and te Molder, 2005). Third, the study is

located with regard to ethnomethodological and conversation-analytic studies of

mundane reasoning, particularly in legal settings (e.g. Atkinson and Drew,

1979; Komter, 1995, 1997; Lynch and Bogen, 2005; Pollner, 1987; Travers and

Manzo, 1997; Watson, 1997), exploring in particular the ways in which people

use norms to locate or decide facts. In that regard, this is a case study of the use

of normative inferences in linking factual reality to psychological states, motives

and dispositions, as part of an understandable, inference-rich, expectable world.In conversation-analytic mode, talk is examined here as a domain of interaction-

ally and sequentially performed and occasioned social practices.

A fourth domain, less directly relevant to the analysis offered here, is

linguistic studies of modality. Linguistic treatments (e.g. Bybee and Fleischman,

1995; Palmer, 2001) focus mainly on classifying and distinguishing the range of

modal expressions within and across languages, and describing their

grammatical functions. Modal expressions include a range of auxiliary verbs in

English, such as ought, will, would, could, can, might, should, and may. Standard

classifications of modal meanings include epistemic (factual, what we can know),

logical (what must be the case), and deontic uses of ought, should, must, etc., that

express concepts such as obligation and necessity. Palmer (2001) provides a

finer-grained distinction between two kinds of event modality, deontic (externalto the person: constraints, permission, etc.) and dynamic (internal to the person:

ability, willingness, etc.). In those terms, it is practices using dynamic event

modality that we are mostly examining here, although when it comes to

analysing actual, situated practices of accountability there is typically a range of

epistemic, deontic and/or dispositional considerations at stake at any one time.1

Whereas linguistic studies present examples in the form of single-sentence

instances, invented or selected as good exemplars of the logical type they

Edwards: Facts, norms and dispositions 477



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illustrate, studies of talk-in-interaction of the kind presented here focus on thesocial actions performed, and the interactional relevancies managed by their use.

Although it has not been explicitly picked out for systematic analysis, there

are various useful observations and data segments in the literature on courtroom

and police interrogations, on participants uses of would. It occurs as a way of

formulating actors dispositions, in a suspects or witnesss defence of what they

did or did not do. Lynch and Bogen (2005) make relevant observations on Oliver

Norths answers to questions in the Iran-Contra hearings, where North avoided

providing factual answers about what he did, which would lay those factual

descriptions open to cross-examination, in favour of what he generally does, or

would do. Also Benneworth (2004) notes, in a study of police interviews with

suspected paedophile offenders, examples where rather than claiming the

offence didnt happen because I was doing this . . . the suspect is contesting theaccount with the allegation is implausible because the incident would not have

happened (p. 127). The research literature also contains examples such as the

following, in a police officers courtroom response to a lawyers suggestion that

he failed to take action against an incipiently violent crowd (Atkinson and Drew,

1979: 150):

C: You were in a position to observe that?

W: Yes, but not in a position to carry out the action

I would have liked.

Komter (1995: 1189) notes that;

the device of corroborating ones version of the events by pointing out discrepancies

between the accusation and what is generally held to be true is very common in the

courtroom. This is often presented by way of conditional clauses:

If I had wanted to rob her, I would have been able to just take the money then.

If I had wanted to kill him, I wouldnt have asked everybody where he lived. If I had needed the money, I would have asked my mother.

As in the present study, Komters examples are normative-dispositional uses of

would, used in making plausible the suspects claims about the specific actions of

which s/he is accused by appealing to what is generally held to be true.

The following analysis examines two sequentially organized practices

involving use of the modal would, in which normative-dispositional appeals are

made, both by suspects and by officers during police interrogation. The aim is to

examine the interactional contexts in which these uses occur, the kinds ofpractical reasoning they do, their combination with other features of talk at

those junctures, and the nature and bases of any differences between suspects

and police officers practices. The analysis is divided into two main sections: first,

suspects self-assessments, where they formulate their own character within a

moral or normative order; and second, police officers use of the term with regard

to the normative-dispositional basis of contrary witness testimony. The data

come from a British corpus of 142 police interrogations, sampling a range of




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crimes, suspects and police officers, recorded by the police themselves as aroutine part of interrogation, and subsequently made available to a research

project into neighbour and community conflict.2 Data are transcribed according

to Jeffersons (2004) conventions for conversation analysis. Names, places and

other identifying details have been altered to preserve the anonymity of all

participants.

Suspects uses of first person would

The data for this first section are examples of Ss first-person (that is, I rather

than second-person you or third-person he, she, they, etc.) uses of would

and wouldnt. These are occasions where S proposes for him/herself a

generalized, dispositional principle or tendency that counters the accusation thatS did some specific action. The item I wouldn hurt an old lady, that was used for

illustration in the Introduction, was taken from extract 1. I will first examine this

extract in some detail, and then pursue various generic features of it across a

further set of extracts across a range of suspects and interviewers.

(1) PW:1:15

1 P: But she said (0.2) that she was pushed backwards

2 by yourself.= Now Ive been to see this lady

3 yesterday. .hhh And at the (.) bottom: r:ight hand

4 side of her back (0.4) shes got a (.) brui:se

5 about the size about a fifty pence piece.=

6 S: =Well then somebody else has done that mate.

7 I wouldnI wouldnt do that. No Ill admit to8 stealin the ciggies, right .hh but they were on the

9 counter, .h I did not jump over no counter for them.

10 (0.3)

11 P: NO I [DIDnt say you jumped over a count[er.

12 S: [I- [I didn

13 even go behind the counter for them.= I didn push

14 the woman or nothin, (0.5) I really did not do

15 that.= Im not that type of person yknow what I

16 me:an. .h Fair enough I stole the ciggies, (0.9)

17 I wouldn hurt an old lady.

18 (0.5)

19 P: [Right. ]

20 S: [ No. ] (.) Not a chance.=

Let us first note various components of the extract, considered as a sequence

of actions. At line 1, P states a but-prefaced objection to Ss prior account of his

actions (omitted here for the sake of brevity, but see lines 47). P says that Ss

accuser, this lady (the female shopkeeper), has claimed (she said) that S pushed

her, this being the action that caused a bruise (lines 45) that P himself has seen

(lines 2 and 3). Let us say, then, that in lines 15 P presents contradictory

testimony, and some related evidence, against Ss story. At line 6, S immediately




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(in a latched turn) denies his accusers account, by invoking some other unknownperpetrator. Note how S selects the womans testimony (that S pushed her) as

deniable, rather than Ps observation of the bruise. That leaves the matter as Ss

word against hers: a matter of contrary testimony. At line 7, S produces the first-

person generalized dispositional expression I wouldnt do that, where the

significance for S of wouldnt is marked by its repetition with raised pitch (a type

of self-initiated self-repair: Schegloff et al., 1977). So the use of wouldnt is a

displayed feature of Ss account (cf. Komter, 1997, on the accused persons

orientations to their own character within a moral order, in the very different

action of expressing remorse in a courtroom).

In lines 714, S reiterates his testimony that he stole the cigarettes, along

with the factual denial that he went behind the counter and pushed the shop-

keeper. They were on the counter specifies that he was able to pick the cigarettesup without either going behind the counter, or assaulting the woman. S

formulates (cf. Heritage and Watson, 1979), as a gist of what he is saying, I

really did not do that (lines 1415). That is, he emphatically denies the specific

offence that he is accused of. At line 15, S makes a first-person generalized self

assessment: Im not that type of person, where the sense is of a general

disposition on his part not to do the kind of action of which he is accused. At line

17, having again conceded that he stole the cigarettes, S reiterates his

generalized dispositional wouldnt. This time S specifies just what he wouldnt do,

in the form of a generalized version of the offence of which he is accused, hurt

an old lady.

These features of Ss uses ofwouldcombine with other features of the extract.

For example, what makes his action-formulation generalized is not only the itemwouldnt rather than didnt, but also the generalized membership category old lady

(rather than the specific shopkeeper herself), the indefinite article an old lady

(i.e. any old lady, rather than the old lady), and the semantically open verb hurt

rather than the more specific descriptions already in play (push, bruise, etc.).

Clearly S is at pains to provide a generalized, dispositional, normatively under-

standable basis for his version of his actions (cf. Jayyusi, 1984, on how member-

ship categories are used in the production of moral accountability).

Another feature of the extract is how, at lines 1819, P provides a minimal

acknowledgement of Ss dispositional claim at 17, and does not directly pursue

it. This is a recurring feature in the data under examination, which I will return

to later. Yet P does offer a challenge to something else, at line 11. Notably, this is

not a challenge to Ss dispositional would-based self-assessments but, rather, to aformulation that S offers, of what he is accused of doing, that he did not jump

over no counter. P offers a correction: jump over is not the witnesss actual

description, such that S is denying something of which he is not accused. The

significance of this sequence is that it displays on Ps part an orientation to

establishing the facts of what happened, including making direct, explicit

challenges to Ssfactual testimony. In police terms, the bases for that are material

evidence (lines 35) and witness testimony about witnessable events. In contrast




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to that, P offers no challenge to Ss generalized, normative self-assessments, atthose junctures where they are produced at line 7 following the possibly

complete TCU I Iwouldnt do that.3 and following the self-assessments in lines

1517.

The central observation about extract 1, then, around which the rest of the

analysis hinges, is Ss use of a generalized, dispositional would as a way of

denying having done some specific action, in the face of contradictory testimony.

I will return to the theme of Ps responses, and their interactional import, in the

course of examining further examples.

Extract 2 comes from a different interrogation with a different S and P. Before

the extract begins, S has persistently denied accusations of threatening and

verbally abusing a neighbour. In the extract itself, S denies head-butting the man,

and in making that denial, deploys a first-person dispositional would(wha wd I. . . in line 14).

(2) PN:33:7

1 P: Hes sayin that when youve walked towar:ds

2 im youve leaned forward and head butted im

3 on is nose.

4 (0.5)

5 P: Has that happen:ed

6 (0.2)

7 S: Wha- Ive it im:.

8 (0.2)

9 P: Youve head butted im. Youve lunged forward

10 and [head butted im.11 S: [NO::: no I aint at a:ll.

12 (0.3)

13 S: Unless ycn ge any proof then: (1.5) Iv- (.)

14 headbutted im wha wd I wanna head butt an

15 old bloke fo:r.

16 (2.0)

17 S: Shtu:pi:d.

18 (9.2)

Again we can identify a sequence of component actions that bear comparison

to those of extract 1. P puts to S (line 5) a witnesss accusation (Hes sayin. . .

lines 13), that S has in fact previously denied. As with most of the extracts we

are examining, this follows a repeated line of questioning involving contradictorytestimony between the accused S and Ps quotations from an accusing witness,

who is generally the alleged victim. Ss denial of the specific offence, explicit at line

11, is prefigured at line 7 by Ss ironic, high-pitched and emphatic formulation of

what he is accused of. Note how the generalized word hit substitutes in Ss

formulation for the specific action description previously used by P and the

witness youve leaned forward and head butted im on is nose. In denying the

specific offence, therefore, S is already starting to generalize it as a category of




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actions. The raised pitch and preceding Wha- (line 7), convey a sense ofsurprise, confusion or incomprehension at being accused of such a thing.4

At line 13, S implies the absence of definitive evidence to decide the matter; it

is the witnesss testimony against Ss. At lines 1415, S deploys a first-person

dispositional would, with regard to the accusation. In this case, it is an

interrogative why would I? (more precisely, what would I . . . for?) rather than

declarative I wouldnt. But it performs the same kind of action, of denying he did

it on the basis that he would not do it. Again, Ss normative-dispositional would

combines with a generalized membership category formulation an old bloke to

describe the neighbour. Like with an old lady in extract 1, the indefinite article,

and general category bloke, provide the sense that he wouldnt head-butt any

old bloke as such, rather than just this particular one.

Overall, extracts 1 and 2 contain a sequence of actions that can be typified asfollows.

1) the establishment of conflicting testimony regarding a specific offence;

2) Ss use of a first-person normative-dispositional would, which may combine

with the use of generalized person types or categories;

3) minimal if any acknowledgement, but no challenge by P of Ss dispositional

claim.

It is important to note that these actions are performed and/or oriented to by

the participants. The conflicting nature of the available testimony is produced as

such by S and/or P, rather than merely things noticeable by the analyst/reader. It

is in the context of having produced those things, as a kind of testimonial or

evidential stand-off, that S deploys the dispositional would. That is what providesfor the items sequential position and relevance, and also the practical logic of its

use, as a proposal for how Ss version of the facts under dispute can be inferred

and known. There are other ways available to suspects for dealing with contrary

witness testimony and evidence, of course, including the use of precisely

designed alternative descriptions of witnesses versions (Drew, 1992); it is a

particular practice we are examining here, rather than all and always what S

may do.

In the further extracts that follow, I examine how robust these general

features may be, and how they provide a framework for how S and P deal with

the specifics of each case. Relevantly to extract 3, S is a teenage boy who, having

been legally banned from entering a local post office, is now accused of causing

further harassment there. The extract follows detailed descriptions of Ss allegedactions: stealing sweets, disruptive and abusive behaviour.

(3) PN:34:6 21:30

1 P: A:nd ythen put (.) a bungee. (1.0) A ( )

2 bungee round the doo:r ttry an stop people

3 [getting in the ] shop. Dyremember that.

4 S: [N o: : : : . ]




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5 S: No:.6 (.)

7 S: W-wa- why would I put bungee on the doo:r.

8 (5.6) ((S is next to speak))

Again, at lines 13 we have the initial establishment of a contradiction

between Ss testimony and Ps quotations from a witnesss statement. P puts to S

what the shopkeeper claims S did, and S rejects it using an emphatic, elongated

denial at line 4, in overlap with P, and repeated in the clear at line 5 in answer to

Dyremember that. As with most of our examples, the accusations made by P

are based in quotations from a written witness statement, that S has been

persistently denying for some time prior to where the extract begins. S then

produces, at line 7, a first-person would in support of his factual denial. Ss

stuttering start W-wa- why helps convey a sense of puzzlement, of S struggling

with the sheer implausibility of the idea; why would he, or anyone do such a

thing? Again, P produces no explicit uptake (line 8), despite having provided a

possible answer already, at lines 23: ttry an stop people getting in the shop.

Although there is not space here to explore systematic differences across

many examples, there is probably a basis, or more than one basis, for the choice

between the interrogative Why would I? of extracts 2 and 3, and the declarative I

wouldnt used elsewhere. In the case of the interrogative form, the absence of an

answer from P reinforces the sense of it as a rhetorical question in other

words, an implicit assertion, and not as such requiring an answer. The sense of

these questions as rhetorical is reinforced by their use with ironic repeats of the

accusation: head butt an old bloke (extract 2, lines 1415, with the additional

ridiculing of Shtu:pi:d, line 17), and put bungee on the doo:r (extract 3, line 7).

The choice may also be based on a difference in answerability. For example, in

extract 2 S is not being accused of butting the man in order to achieve some

further goal, whereas in extract 1 S is accused of pushing the woman in order to

rob her of cigarettes. So for S in extract 1 to ask Why would I? might hold

greater prospect of being answered, by just the accusation he is at pains to refute

that is, in order to accomplish the robbery. Nevertheless, whatever the grounds

for choosing one form over the other, both forms assert a normative-dispositional

basis for denying an accusation of having done some specific thing.

Extract 4 provides another succinct example of our basic phenomenon.

(4) PN:38:215

1 P1: Right (.) so whos lying then.

2 (0.4)

3 P1: Cos one o yous lying arent they.=

4 S: =I haven- (.) I haven said nothing I- (0.3)

5 I wouldnt. yknow wha I mean.

6 (0.4)

7 S: ((sni [ffs))

8 P1: [Well shes saying yhave.=




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9 S: =I- (0.2) cant be doing with (0.2) the trouble.10 I wouldnt say nothing.

11 P1: HHhhhhhhhhhh[hh.

In extract 4 the general kinds of actions we are identifying are identifiable as

follows. First, there is an unresolved testimonial conflict between S and an

accusing witness, explicitly formulated by P as one o yous lying (line 3). The

relevance of line 4 I haven said nothing is that S is currently accused of

witness intimidation, which involves talking to a witness in an upcoming court

case, in the face of a prior court instruction that he should stay away from her.

So S denies the specific action of which he is accused (line 4). S then supports his

denial (again, this extract is the culmination of a series of repeated accusations

and denials) with an emphatic first-person dispositional I wouldnt, framed as

normatively recognizable: yknow wha I mean (line 5). In this case P does

respond to Ss first-person dispositional would, but only to repeat the witnesss

contradictory testimony (line 8). P specifically does not pursue the dispositional

claim itself; in other words, there is no attempt by P to unpick or contradict Ss

dispositional self-assessment as such. S then formulates an accountable basis for

his dispositional claim (line 9) and re-asserts it (line 10). P responds with,

literally, some ex-aspiration (line 11), but no pursuit of the topic.

The further extracts (58) that follow, serve to flesh out the basic action

sequence identified. There was no clear deviant case in the data sample but,

rather, a range of specific instantiations and variations in detail, that show how

the sequence provides a frame for an important and recurrent piece of practical

reasoning deployed in these interrogations. In extract 5, S is a 17-year-old boyaccused of breaching a court-imposed ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Order), by

assaulting a seven-year-old.

(5) PN:40:1

1 P: earlier on today on

2 suspicion of assaultin (0.4) u::m (.) a seven

3 year ol::d, (0.8) which is (.) u:h (.) Jeremy.

4 (0.6)

5 P: Dyknow (.) who Im talkin bout,

6 (0.3)

7 S: Yeh,

8 (0.2)

9 P: Okay, (0.7) an do yknow the incident Im

10 talkin about.

11 (0.2)

12 S: Not at a:ll.

13 (0.6)

14 P: Not at all.

15 S: No.

16 (0.9)

17 S: Im not gonna beat a seven year old up.=




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18 yknow what I mean.19 (0.2)

20 S: I got morals.

21 (0.2)

22 S: s little kid.

23 (0.7)

24 P: A:lright, (0.8) so:: (...)

Extract 5 contains the essential ingredients we have identified, that

contextualize Ss use of the first-person dispositional modal in line 17. In this

case, we have the variant not gonna rather than wouldnt5 (line 17), but it works

in essentially the same way: that is, to propose that the specific action being

denied (assaulting the boy) is an instance of a general category of actions that S

is not disposed to do. That general disposition is both personal (S would not do it)and normative (it is the kind of thing that nobody should do). The normative

sense is reinforced, as in extracts 1 and 4, by a contiguous yknow what I mean

(line 18) which appeals to its recognizability as a claim, and also by Ss

sequentially next, personal subscription to a moral order (line 20). As in extracts

1 and 2, Ss dispositions are invoked with regard to a generalized category of

relevant objects, a seven year old (line 17, again using the indefinite article),

and little kid (line 22). Note that there are alternatives available for describing

the boy, including Jeremy, him, the lad, etc., but S is doing generalization.

Again, P (lines 234) does not at this point attempt to unpick or question Ss

generalized normative-dispositional avowals.

The general action sequence is further instantiated in extract 6. Prior to the

extract, S has been accused of saying to her neighbour, among other insults andthreats, youre fucking dead, which S denies saying. Instead, S admits to

verbals on both sides, framed as a normal kind of two-sided, reciprocal swearing

and abuse.

(6) PN:16:8

1 P: (...) shes sayin that youve threatened to kill her.

2 (0.3)

3 S: N [ o:, ]

4 P: [an then ] youre dead.

5 (.)

6 S: N [o:.

7 P: [Whatever.

8 (.)9 S: No. Tha [t is:

10 P: [Is there any way at all you couldve said

11 that in the heat [o the moment.=

12 S: [No::.

13 P: =[In the heat of an argument

14 S: =[Not even if I was (fightin) no.

15 (.)




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16 S:

An I wouldnt (even) say that.17 (0.5)

18 S: I wouldnt say that.

19 (0.6)

20 S: I [ve- Ive never said tha*t to *er

21 P: [(Okay)

22 (0.5)

23 S: when weve had an argument mm:?

24 (0.8)

25 S: Ever.

The action elements that we have identified are exemplified in extract 6 as

follows:

1) the production of contrary testimonies regarding the particular offence accusation (lines 1 and 4) and denial (lines 3 and 6).

2) Ss generalizing, first-person dispositional use ofwouldnt at lines 16 and 18.

3) minimal receipt/acknowledgement by P at line 21, in a turn following

straight after Ss repeated clause (and TCU) containing wouldnt, and in

overlap with As starting a new turn.

We may also note a range of particular features in extract 6 that enrich that

bare structure. As in all our examples, it is the interrogations crucial business

that is being dealt with here the actual criminal offence with which S is being

charged, in this case, the accusation of having made threats to kill. Note how in

lines 713 P pursues Ss factual denial that she actually said those things, but

typically, as noted, does not pursue Ss dispositional wouldclaims starting at line16. A difference is emerging across these extracts, between how P responds to Ss

factual claims and denials, and how P responds to Ss generalized normative-

dispositional avowals. Another feature of extract 6 is the way that P, in

responding to Ss factual denials, starts to generalize his interest in what she may

have said: the expressions whatever (line 7) and any way at all (line 10) signal

that the exactness of the witnesss quotation of S is not what requires denial but,

rather, the kindof thing S may have said, that would make it recognizable as a

case of threatening to kill. It is a generalizing, categorizing move by P that

precedes Ss own move to a generalized disposition-based denial she wouldnot

say such a thing. Another feature of the extract, and one we will encounter in

other data, is how S moves from the dispositional wouldnt say to the factual Ive

never said . . . (line 20). In moving from dispositions back to facts, S effectivelymakes the link to which all of our generalized dispositionals are oriented, which

is the work they do in denying the specific actions with which S is being charged.

In extract 7, a middle-aged Asian man6 is accused of having opened the boot

(i.e. trunk) of his neighbours car, and of having deliberately scratched the car

when walking past it.




14/28

(7) PN:17:61 S: (...) You know I dont understand this sir.

2 (0.3)

3 S: I mean Im (not daft) I mean Ive worked (0.5)

4 Ive worked what I want to and God has given me

5 what Ive got.= What I want.

6 P: Mm.

7 (0.3)

8 S: I mean (0.3) opening somebodys boot I mean *u*u

9 *I *a*a*a *I would feel ashamed of myself.

10 (0.3)

11 P: Okay. .hhh What about the scratch.

Extract 7 begins after a sequence in which P has accused S of the offences,

based on testimony of Ss neighbour, and S has denied the charges. So again, we

have a situation involving an unresolved conflict of testimony. S starts the extract

by expressing incomprehension (line 1) and setting up a dispositional basis (lines

45) for not doing what he is accused of. At line 8, S quotes the specific action he

is accused of (cf. the ironic repeats in extract 2, lines 7 and 14, and extract 3, line

7), and immediately follows it with a first-person dispositional would(line 9). In

this case, S fuses his personal dispositions with a morally enhanced normative

sense: I would feel ashamed of myself. Overall, Ss wouldaccount is produced as

part of trying to understand the sense of what he is accused of, on the basis of

how anyone in his position, with all that God has provided, along with a sense of

shame, might be thought capable such a thing. He offers normative notions of

motive and act, to warrant a factual denial, that he committed the specific action

of opening his neighbours car boot. Ps response is a slightly delayed, final-

intonation, softly spoken Okay, followed not by pursuit of whether S opened the

boot, or would feel ashamed, but by a topical move to the second factual

accusation, that S also scratched the neighbours car.

Let us conclude this section with a final example. In extract 8, S has been

accused of breaching a second harassment order, which is a courts binding

instruction to stay away from an ex-partner that S has allegedly been pursuing.

P is referring in line 1 to the accusers statement.

(8) PN:27:7

1 P: Basic its got here that .hhh I was at ho:me in my

2 f lat when I heard a knock at the- (0.3) at my doo:r.

3 I then heard John shout.hhh Come tthdoor so I can4 see your face.

5 (0.5)

6 P: [And do you (say [ )

7 S: [No thats not- [( ) that thats one thing

8 that- thats not my- I wouldnt come out with sh-

9 (0.2) come to the door n show my face thats not-

10 .hhh Id say (.) Sharon come to the door I wouldnt




15/28

11 mention Sharon come to the door and show my face.= .h12 Thats not my words I wouldnt use them wo(h)rd(h)s.

13 [.hh Ill swear on me mothers life I (>hope me=

14 P: [(Okay,)

15 S: =motherd


16/28

delay). As we have noted, Ps receipts of Ss would expressions are typicallyminimal acknowledgement tokens rather than direct challenges.

Extract 9 comes 25 turns after extract 1, in the interrogation concerning the

robbery/theft of cigarettes from a shop.

(9) PW:1:17

1 P: So shes implicated that youve gone (0.3) through

2 that gap,

3 S: Wro [ng

4 P: [an youve pushed her (0.8) right, (.) and

5 shes gone backwards.

6 (0.2)

7 S: Not at [all.

8 P: [And (0.5) hit against (.)as I said (.)9 the bruise are there Ive seen the bruises Ive

10 asked her to go tthe doctorn of course hell (0.3)

11 hell confirm (.) those as well, .hhh I cant see

12 (0.5) why (0.6) this lady: (0.3) would wanna (0.7)

13 [lie ]

14 S: [Nei ]ther can I?

15 (0.4)

Ps third-person use of would (line 12), like Ss first-person uses, invokes

normative and personal dispositions to do or say things. In this case it is

formulated as a problem for Ps efforts to understand, against a normative

backdrop of understandable actions, Ss denials: I cant see (0.5) why this lady:

(0.3) would wanna (0.7) lie (lines 1113). The assertion I cant see whyproposes a problem with, and challenge to, Ss story.8 The prior context is again

the establishment of contradictory factual testimony (lines 17) along with some

circumstantial evidence (lines 911). Again, we are finding ways in which

common sense practical reasoning makes links between norms, dispositions, and

factual accounts. P uses woulddispositionally and normatively with regard to the

shopkeeper; why would she invent this story if it were not true? P generates a

sense of stake or motive what is in it for her to wanna make this stuff up? Ss

response (line 14) overlaps the end of Ps query. Rather than leaving Ps why

would she as a knock-down counter to his own story, S treats it as a puzzle for him

too (echoed in the high-rising, questioning pitch contour of line 14).

Extract 10 begins just after a sequence in which P has quoted a witness who

claims to have overheard a telephone call in which S was swearing and makingthreats to kill Ss neighbour.

(10) PN:11:9

1 S: (...) but as for- (.) sayin thIm gonna put a

2 bomb through yr doo:r (1.1) no.

3 (0.2)

4 S: I dont do things like that.= I know hes got (0.4)




17/28

5 kids himself which stay round there6 (1.8)

7 S: and look a hes- (0.4) look at the size aim es

8 six foot fou:r (0.4) Im five foot seven,

9 (1.2)

10 P: Bt ydid make more than one phone c[all

11 S: [Yeh I phoned

12 im back bu I didnt (0.4) I made n- (1.0) no:

13 sound on the pho:ne i-it lasted probably: (0.7) a

14 s:plit second- one to two secon:ds,

15 (0.2)

16 P: Why wou [ld this lady say then. that she heard=

17 S: [An uh

18 P: =these things?=

19 S: =U:m (.) because ath- u- I th- theres been a feu:d20 in Becknall Cou:rt f r a long time (...)

The actions in extract 10, prior to and following Ps use of wouldin line 16,

are again similar to those in extract 9. There is a sequence of accusation and

denial, formulated here in Ss first turn (lines 12). Additionally in this extract we

have S offering a generalized dispositional basis for his denial: I dont do things

like that (line 4), along with a normatively plausible basis for that denial (lines

48). Then P presents further non-definitive circumstantial evidence against S

(line 10), which S acknowledges and re-formulates as irrelevant (lines 1114). It

is at this juncture that P issues the third-person dispositional challenge: Why

would this lady say then . . . (lines 1618). As also in extract 9, S provides an

answer that retains the questionability of the witnesss motives for giving falsetestimony. Here in extract 10, this takes the more substantial form of a long-term

feud (lines 1920).

A pattern is emerging across Ps uses of third-person normative-dispositional

would, in challenging Ss testimony. As with Ss first-person dispositionals, a

stand-off is first established between S and a quoted witness (who is often but

may not be the alleged victim), in their contradictory factual testimony con-

cerning the alleged offence. There may also be some circumstantial, that is,

inconclusive, evidence against S, which S refutes or minimizes. In response to Ss

denials, P produces a third-person dispositional would, framed as a normative

question, or expression of puzzlement, as to why the witness might lie (i.e. it

invokes the witnesss possible motive, stake or interest in saying something false:

cf. Komter, 1995). Unlike with Ss own first-position wouldexpressions that wereexamined in section 1, that tended to elicit no direct response from P, Ps third-

position dispositional question about the witness elicits an attempt by S to deal

with it. Let us examine some further examples before returning to that point.

In extract 11, S has been accused of harassing and threatening her

neighbour and her neighbours children, a charge which S is in the process of

denying.




18/28

(11) PN:46:71 S (...) Iv- (.) kept meself tmeself, (0.3) kept in-

2 .hh when I see them, (.) yes, Im angry at them an

3 I call them thieves.= bu thats it.

4 (1.0)

5 P So (1.2) w-why: the*n l*astly about thi- why: .hh

6 (0.6) hhh. Probly know your answer.= But Im gon

7 ask the question anyway. .hhh that

10 allegedlyve been made by you.

11 S Because she kno:ws the system. Shes tryina get

12 me kicked out by the council. cos she wants to

13 stay cos she gets (cash in hand) down the pub.

S formulates the actions, for which her neighbour is accusing her of

harassment, as merely getting angry and calling them thieves (because, she

elsewhere asserts, that is what they are), but that is all there is to it; as she puts

it, bu thats it. So again, we have contrary testimony directly concerning the

offence with which S is charged. In this case, Ps third-person would question

(lines 710) is interestingly framed as a question he is apparently bound to ask,

and to which he can anticipate the answer (lines 67). Note that we are some

way into the interrogation, throughout which P has displayed a close familiarity

with Ss case. The notion offered by P, that he knows her probable answer but Im

gon ask the question anyway, orients to the questions normative askability in

these circumstances, in whatever way those circumstances should be understood.

I take those circumstances to be some combination of: unresolved conflictingtestimony, inconclusive evidence to decide it, and doing proper police procedure,

including getting the question and Ss answer into the taped record of the

interrogation. Additionally, Ps expression l*astly about thi- (line 5)9 orients to it

as a sequential item, as a possibly final question, or last in a series. In breaking off

from asking the dispositional why would . . .? question, and inserting this lastly

. . . phrase before continuing (see the transcriptional detail of line 5), P displays

an orientation to the would-questions sequential placement as not only

following, but also at the end of a sequence of factual interrogation and denial.

Again, note that S does offer an answer to Ps wouldquestion, in the form of a

dispositional or motivational account (lines 1113) essentially, that the witness

has a self-interested motive in getting S evicted from her council house.

Extract 12 is several minutes further into the interrogation from which

extract 5 was taken, in which a 17-year-old denies assaulting a much younger

boy.

(12) PN:40:6

1 P: So why: should this kid then whos seven

2 years ol:d, who lives on your roa:d, whos-

3 lived there: f seven year:s, to my knowledge




19/28

4

.hhh u:m

why should he suddenly sa:y that5 you: have done- (0.3) well. basically

6 assaulted im.

7 S: I dont kno:w.

8 (0.9)

9 P: Well theres gotta be a reason [for it

10 S: [HONestly I

11 DON- (.) if I knew Id tell yer. Yknow

12 whaI mea:n.

13 (0.4)

14 S: Ive been honest with yer. ( )

15 Ob [viously theres a reas- ]

16 P: [Because it turns ] ou*t=

17 S: =THERE AINT NO REASon yeh because I swear

18 on my mums fuckin li:fe I didnt do fuck all19 I aint seen that little lad,

20 (0.8)

21 S: Alright. (0.3) So I dont care what you thi:nk

22 (.) whether you say th- (.) theres must be

23 a reason why es sayin it there aint no

24 fuckin reason, .h thaint nuthin.

25 (0.2)

26 S: That hes a little twat. thats what.

27 (0.5)

28 P: Why: dysay that.

The modal variant in extract 12 is should(lines 1 and 4), but like would, this

also conveys the sense of a normative-dispositional account being required forwhy this witness might lie. Again, it is Ss testimony being set against that of the

boy victim/witness. In this case, P works to build the boys status as unmotivated

to lie; he is a long-time neighbour, who has suddenly (line 4), which is to say in

no way accounted for by S, accused S of assaulting him. Similarly the category

this kid . . . whos seven years ol:d (lines 12) formulates the witness in

categorial and innocent terms devoid of grudge or motive. Ss initial response at

line 7, I dont kno:w bears comparison to extract 9, line 14 (Neither can I?),

in which Ss response is to share Ps puzzlement. Effectively, S bats the question

back, not as a problem for S, but as a puzzle about the witness. So we have two

different implications in play, concerning the witnesss absent reasons for making

false accusations. P implies that, having no reason to lie, the witness is telling the

truth. For S, on the other hand, the absence of any evident reason to lie impliessome unknown reason (extract 12, lines 1012, 15), or else sheer irrationality

(lines 1724).

Ss eventual answer formulates the witness dispositionally, as a person whose

reasons for saying things stem from character: hes a little twat (line 26). The

coda thats what specifies hes a twat as the answer to the motivation puzzle,

as to why he may have given false testimony. Formulating the boys nature also

avoids addressing any notion of reciprocity on the boys part, for anything S may




20/28

have done to him. As a twat, he would tend to say scurrilous and unreliablethings. Again, Ps pursuit of this particular formulation (line 28) lends some

credence to the notion that it is specifically the normative self-assessment uses of

wouldthat are not pursued, rather than it being merely that police officers do not

generally pursue things that Ss claim or deny.

Extract 13 comes several minutes after extract 5, in an interrogation about

alleged damage to a neighbours car, and opens with S making the kind of first-

person modal-dispositional generalization we have previously examined. In this

case, the modal term used is should (line 3), and again its normative appeal is

reinforced with a yknow what I mean (line 6).

(13) PN:17:9

1 S: (...) Ive got two cars at home (.) [I mean why=

2 P: [(I know)

3 S: =should I be need (to be) open somebody elses car.

4 (0.4)

5 P: U [:h

6 S: [>Yknow what I meanIm not7 saying< nine year olds dont lie because they do.8 (0.3)9 P: Children of all d- ages lie. .hhh But >what Im

10 saying is< why would she (.) m- (0.5) say this11 about you. .h Its not- (0.2) i-its quite12 specific what shes saying.13 (0.4)

14 P: Ykno:w, (0.2) shes saying ypu- (0.4) yhand15 downer pyjamas.16 (0.6)17 P: Shes saying you took Amandas nappy of f.18 (1.4)19 P: An felt her between the legs. .h An then shes20 talkin about you takin yr trousers down.=21 Shes quite specific.22 (0.9)23 P: An an why did she make this up about you.24 (0.4)25 S: Don kno:w.

The sequence of actions in extract 14 is similar to the other extracts we are

examining, but again the extract has its own interesting and telling details. Thereis, as we are finding generally, an initial presentation and rejection of witness

testimony against S (lines 13), followed by Ps delivery of the third-person

normative-dispositional would(lines 6 and 10), and eventually a response from S

(line 25) that either refutes or, as in this case, leaves the puzzle unresolved. As we

saw in dont know types of response in extracts 9 and 12, Ss high-rising and

elongated intonation are important in conveying not merely ignorance or

unresponsiveness to the question, but a sense of exasperation or puzzlement of

his own. As in extract 9, P first frames it as a puzzle for P herself: I cant see why

. . . (line 5), but then re-formulates it as a question, why would she . . . (line 10).

As in extract 12, P provides some grounds for finding it hard to believe that the

witness is lying; in this case, as with the boy cited in extract 12, we have the use

of an age category, a nine year old gir:l (line 5), to characterize the witness(indefinitely a girl, rather than the particular girl Emily whose name they have

been using). Further, P quotes graphic details from Emilys account (lines

1420), whose quite specific nature is explicitly offered by P, both before and

after, as the point of quoting those details (lines 12 and 21). These are specifics

that, in Ps presentation of them, give Emilys testimony the ring of truth.

Two additional features of extract 14 are worth noting, although they should

be understood as adding complexity and options to the basic sequence, rather




22/28

than being exceptions to it. One feature is Ps insertion in lines 6 to 9, into theproduction of her why would? question, of a possible response to it (nine-year-

olds lie), and a rejection of that response (but why this lie in particular). This,

along with Ps citation of the quite specific details on which we have com-

mented, may help account for Ss lack of room for manoeuvre at line 25.

Another feature is the specific way the question is re-iterated by P at line 23; why

did, rather than why would(cf. comments on extract 6, line 20). In fact, given that

why wouldis an unanswered question still on the table, we can understand why

didhere as a nice orientation to the whole point of asking why would. Across all

of the examples we are analyzing, in both sections of this article, the

dispositional would is deployed as a way of dealing with what did happen,

actually, on some particular occasion, that being the criminal action that S is

charged with. Indeed, that is the practical logic of the wouldturns following thefactual and testimonial contradictions of prior turns.

We end this section with one further extract, but markedly different from the

others, in that S replies no comment to all questions put to him concerning an

accusation of assault on his accuser.

(15) PN:14:4

1 P: Why would- why would- (0.4) Tony Bla:ke. (.) O:nly

2 yve not denied anything. (.) Youve noactually3 said no that didnt happen, so youve not denied or4 confirmed anything, .hhh youve said no comment so:5 (.) I Im sortf duty bound to ask you (0.4) further6 questions in relation to this. .hhh7 (7.2)

8 P: Why would Tony Blake ma- make- make this up as- (.)9 if he is making it up if- (.) if youre all (.)

10 saying that it didnt happen, which youre no:t. .hh

11 But (.) why would he say this if i- if it isnt the

12 case.= Why: (0.2) whats his motive. f comin out

13 n n accusing you of this assault.

14 (0.3)

15 S: No comment,

16 (18.3)

The notable feature of extract 15 is how, in the absence of anything but no

comment from S, P orients to the normative use and sequential relevance of the

dispositional response, why wouldthe witness lie. We have noted that the normal

sequential location of these third-person dispositional modals is after a denial, atestimonial stand-off, and perhaps a first-person dispositional I wouldnt by S.

But here we have P producing the third-person dispositional anyway, despite Ss

denial not occurring. The thing of interest, of course, is Ps orientation to it as

something to say next, following such a denial. Note particularly how P formu-

lates the absence of Ss denial (lines 24) prior to asking the dispositional why

would . . . (line 8), and in fact breaks off at line 1 from an initial why would-, to

insert his observations on Ss absent testimony. This shows an orientation by P,




23/28

marked by doing a repair involving a break-off, insertion and re-start, towardraising the dispositional why would (he) sequentially following Ss rejection of a

witnesss testimony. Although P pointedly notes that S has neither denied nor

confirmed the witnesss testimony, it is only in the event of a denial that the

challenge why would he say this arises. Indeed, a normative basis for P asking

this specific question, just here, is formulated P himself: he is sortf duty bound

(line 5) to ask it.

Summarizing section 2, we find a sequential orderliness across Ps uses of a

third-person normative-dispositional modal would(and its variants), that bears

comparison to Ss first-person uses in section 1. There is an initial, produced-as

and oriented-to contradiction between the testimonies of S and a witness, with

regard to the factual status of whatever specific actions S is being accused of. P

formulates a problem for Ss denials, in the form of a question or puzzle as to whythe witness should lie. This may involve some descriptive building of the witnesss

independence, innocence, or lack of motive. Unlike with Ss first-person modals,

Ps third-person modals tend to elicit replies from S, either shared puzzlement or

a dispositional account of why the witness might lie. In the concluding section of

the article, that difference is explained in terms of the different action sequences

being done, and in terms of orientations to normative practices of police

interrogation with regard to factual testimony.

Conclusion

The focus of our analysis has been on a particular kind of discourse practice, or

interactional practice, using the generic modal wouldor occasional variants suchas going to, will, might or should. Clearly those alternative terms are not

semantically equivalent, and further work may reveal interactional differences in

their uses. The point is that they are used sometimes in the same kinds of social

practices, in constructing a normative, generalized, and dispositional basis for

claims and challenges concerning some specific disputed action.

Ss first-person normative-dispositional avowals using wouldoccur in action

sequences as follows:

1) the establishment of contradictory testimony between S and a witness;

2) Ss generalized, normative self-assessment using would;

3) minimal acknowledgement of 2), but no pursuit, by P.

Ps third-person invocation of a witnesss disposition to lie occurs in actionsequences as follows:

1) Ss denials of a witnesss accusatory testimony;

2) Ps challenge, puzzling over why would the witness lie;

3) Ss response, in the form of shared puzzlement at 2) or an account for it.

We are now in a position to consider the difference between the third

components of the two sequences. The key is that we are dealing with different




24/28

kinds of adjacency pairs. Ss would-based claims, whether grammaticallydeclarative (I wouldnt) or interrogative (why would I?), propose normative,

generalized self-assessments. Although assessments in everyday talk normatively

evoke second assessments (Pomerantz, 1984), our cases are special in being self-

assessments, and in being produced in the context of police interrogation. The

absence second assessments from P, whether agreeing or disagreeing with S, may

partly be due to Ps having no independent grounds for providing a generalized

assessment of Ss character, outside of the specific allegations being put.

With regard to the special setting of police interrogation, we have also noted

a strong orientation on Ps part to pursuing the details of factual evidence and

quoted testimony. This orientation excludes entering a discussion of Ss gener-

alized normative appeals. A related feature is Ps recurrent practice of

questioning S by presenting details of witness testimony and physical evidence.Indeed, Ps own question Why would the witness lie? is a further example of this

practice, referring back to the testimony rather than expressing Ps own views on

the matter. This general orientation on Ps part works against P pursuing, or

objecting to, Ss generalized self-assessments.

Relevantly, the practice by question-askers, of putting questions in the form of

quotations from other people, has been noted across other institutional contexts

such as news interviews (Clayman, 1988; Clayman and Heritage, 2002), where it

performs a kind of footing (Goffman, 1979) that displays the interviewers

neutrality while nevertheless being adversarial. Police interrogators are doing

something closely related to that, but perhaps displaying an orientation to

evidence-based objectivity rather than neutrality as such, given that they are often

making the accusation themselves, as the arresting officer, and may (as in extracts1 and 9) be offering some accusatory witnessing of their own. With regard to

interviewer neutrality and footing, police interrogation appears to be positioned

normatively somewhere between news interviewing and courtroom cross-

examination (Atkinson and Drew, 1979). Unlike news interviewers, barristers in

adversarial courts of law are professionally on one side rather than another, while

nevertheless also, normatively, in pursuit of the facts. Police officers appear to be

less strongly positioned than lawyers, displaying an orientation to factual inquiry

rather than factual rebuttal, yet not so neutrally as news interviewers. Of course,

these are arenas of interaction requiring close empirical examination, rather than

normative stipulation, for precisely how they compare and differ.

The use of would in formulating normative-dispositional claims or assess-

ments rests on its grammar, being the past tense ofwill. In the context of the dataand analysis provided here, would is used to propose a kind of back-dated

predictability. It proposes something like going back to a time prior to the

particular event or action in question, and seeing that it was then predictable it

was expectably, predictably, going to happen (or, in the case of wouldnt, not going

to happen). So, I wouldnt hurt an old lady proposes that, if we place ourselves

prior to the event, then, knowing what we know about this person, and lifes

normative order, we can see that hurting an old lady was not, then or ever, in




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prospect. Similarly, why would she say that you did? proposes the requirementfor some prior state of affairs, some motive or circumstance, that makes her

saying it predictable. This same semantic of back-dated predictability also

provides for counter-factual uses of would, as in I would if I could, where what

one would do is back-datedly or dispositionally predictable, if it were not for

circumstances preventing it. Hence the rich usefulness of wouldand its variants,

in handling disputed factuality with regard to motives, norms and character.

We also found a relationship between deployments of modal reasoning and

the invocation of membership or identity categories (an old lady; an old bloke; a

seven-year-old, a little kid, a little twat, a nine-year-old girl, etc.). These categories

fit with uses of wouldin invoking normative knowledge as a route or criterion for

the truth of specific, disputed factual claims. Old ladies, old blokes and little kids

are not only generalized membership categories to which normativeexpectations are inferentially attached (Hester and Eglin, 1997; Sacks, 1992;

Stokoe, 2003; Watson, 1997), but they are also categories emblematic (along

with, say, the disabled and infirm) of people that are not to be hit, kicked, robbed,

or otherwise assaulted. Heydon (2005) refers to the invocation, in police

interrogation, of the moral or normative (rather than strictly legal) rule, it is

wrong to hit women and those smaller than you (p. 203). In Heydons analysis,

this is largely a device that police interrogators can use in questioning Ss

conduct, and rejecting mitigating accounts. In the examples analysed here, it is

primarily used by S in constructing a counter-dispositional formulation of Ss

own conduct in a particular case. The same normative injunction against hitting

women and children (and old people, etc.), that makes the offence particularly

heinous, is exactly what is used by S to say that he didnt (because he wouldnt)do it. Other person descriptions may have a different logic, while still arguing that

a particular offence was not committed because it would not have been (e.g.

extract 10, lines 78, where the category is that of a man one would be foolish to

attack: look at the size aim es six foot fou:r (0.4) Im five foot seven).

Another link was made to analytic work on scripts and dispositions (Edwards,

1995, 1997). Would, along with invocations of membership categories, are

among a range of devices by which specific actions or events can be given a

generalized, timeless quality, and by which the built-in characteristics of persons,

places and objects can be proposed and implied. Back-dated predictability, the

semantics of would, lends itself to saying what a person can or could be expected

to do, in fact or hypothetically, and at any time. It lends itself to characterological

formulations of persons their tendencies, dispositions, moral nature, desiresand intentions. And it is useful in the production and disputation of factual

accounts, whether in promoting a version as consistent or consensual, or in

characterizing that version and its producer as in some way motivated,

interested, and false (see also Komter, 1995, and Sneijder and te Molder, 2005).10

Clearly these devices and practices are of special and endemic relevance to police

interrogation, but they have a common sense practical logic that lends itself to a

wide range of settings not explored here.




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N O T E S

1. In a different but related setting, that of courtroom legal examination, Matoesian

(2001) notes an expert witnesss use of the perfect tense epistemic modal may have

as a device for speculating about unwitnessed possible events (cf. Heydon, 2005:

1423). The work they do in that setting is to cast doubt on a witnesss actual

testimony by providing alternative, plausible accounts for the same evidential effects

or events: epistemic modals do more than merely encode alternative possibilities.

They also index the speakers authority with respect to the truth or falsity of a given

representation of reality (Matoesian, 2001: 187).

2. ESRC project RES-148250010 Identities in neighbour discourse: Community,

conflict and exclusion held by Elizabeth Stokoe and Derek Edwards.

3. TCU is Turn Constructional Unit the building blocks that make for potentially

complete turns at talk, in conversation analysis (Sacks et al., 1974). What makes this

a possibly complete TCU is its potential grammatical completeness as a clause orsentence, its final intonation contour (marked by the full stop or period), and its

hearable completeness as accomplishing an action (self-assessment), such that P is,

at just this point, in a position to respond.

4. It is not appropriate to assign a specific emotional description to Ss prosody, but

clearly some such epistemically relevant reaction is conveyed, in aid of Ss rejection of

the idea that he hit the man.

5. Gonna, or going to, is an alternative to the modal will in English, for expressing a

future and/or intended event or action. Wouldis, grammatically, the past tense of will

(Oxford English Dictionary, 2002). Accordingly, we also find in the data similarly

dispositional uses of will and wont such as this, from the same interrogation as

extract 1 (with will/wont italicized):

S: I wont do it if its if th- dy wont pu- they wont

put the ciggies on the counter, (0.2) Ill say oh

Ive left me money in the car or Ive left me moneyin ours an Ill walk out the shop an Ill leave it.

6. These details are provided as possibly relevant to Ss unusually polite address form

sir (line 1), and perhaps also the grammatical glitch in line 4.

7. These are my own observations about the status of that evidence, but they reflect

orientations to it by S and P themselves, in that S may offer alternative interpretations

or dismissals of the evidences significance, and P does not insist on the matter. See

extract 1, line 6; extract 2, line 13; and extract 10, lines 1114.

8. There is something in the manner of Ps delivery at line 12, including the pauses, that

conveys a sense of significance, deliberation and/or puzzlement. Ss overlap at 14

comes just where Ps objection is projectable, reinforcing the sense of Ps objection as

somewhat expectable; see the discussion of that notion regarding extract 15.

9. The asterisks mark a croaky vocal delivery.

10. A notorious example was coined by Mandy Rice Davies, a witness in the Profumo trial

of 1963, and the topic of the 1989 Michael Caton film Scandal. A British government

Defence Minister, John Profumo, was accused of liaisons with call girls including

Davies, who were also entertaining a Russian military officer during the cold war. In

the trial, a barrister says to Davies that Lord Astor, another government minister,

denies having had sex with her. The court famously burst into laughter at her reply:

Well, he would say that, wouldnt he? (see also Edwards and Potter, 1992).




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D ER EK E DWA RD S is Professor of Psychology in the Department of Social Sciences,

Loughborough University. His interests are in the analysis of language and social

interaction in everyday and institutional settings. He specializes in discursive psychology,

in which relations between psychological states and the external world are studied as

discourse categories and practices. His books include Common Knowledge, with Neil Mercer

(Routledge, 1987), Ideological Dilemmas, with Michael Billig and others (Sage, 1988),

Discursive Psychology, with Jonathan Potter (Sage, 1992), and Discourse and Cognition(Sage, 1997). A D D R E S S : Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University,

Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK. [email: [email protected]]


Modal Would in Police Interrogations

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