Book Cited: Rabon, Don. Investigative Discourse Analysis, 1994, 2003. Carolina Academic Press, Durham, North Carolina
Example of quote analysis:
The Detroit Free Press - 06/03/91
"When the guy brought the car back to me, he told me David got sick,
and he took him to the hospital," Murrell said. "I figured if he
(Ruffin) needs me, he'd call me. I didn't think he was dead."
1. In the first line above, the term "when" indicates a temporal
lacuna: a blank space or missing element(s) within the quote.
Something has been leaped over or left out of the narrative. Other
examples of temporal lacunae would be "later on," "after that,"
or "by and by."[pg. 19]
2. Heavy use if the pronoun "me" may indicatre that the subject
perceives himself, or wished to portray himself, as the passive
object of external actions or events over which he has no control,
but rather by which he is acted upon. [pg. 18]
3. Use of present tense when describing a past occurence. Deceptive
individuals can display a reluctance to refer to past events as past,
particularly if the past event is the subject of investigation.
"I figured if he NEEDS me,..." [pg. 49]
4. "I didn't think" is an example of denial or negation, which is
defined as "a defence mechanism that simply disavows or denies
thoughts, feelings, wishes or needs that cause anxiety." Denial or
negation will be evinced within the disocurse when the speakers
relates what did not happen or what he did not know, do or observe.
This phenomenon is particularly striking when the speaker, having
been asked to relate what happened or how something is accomplished
(process), proceeds to relate what did not happen or what is not
involved in a process as well. [pg. 21]
5. "Think" is also an example of a modifying or equivocating term.
Such terms allow the speaker to "evade the risk of committment. The
speaker us undermining his/her own assertions, which may indicate
some difficulty with committing to what is being said. Other examples
of modifying or equivocating terms are "I believe" "I guess" "It was
kind of" "We were sort of" "I think" "I didn't think" "little more."
[pg. 20]