Learning to Read Like a Lawyer 55sure of control, for even in very structured exchanges, a student whose answer is
acknowledged in subsequent questions is having some impact on the direction of
the conversation. However, a comparison of these studies with the law school ex-
ample demonstrates that the significance of uptake is highly contextual, so that a
straightforward reading of linguistic structure as an index of relative social power
is highly problematic. Understanding the social significance of discourse structure,
predictably, requires contextual analysis.
If we examine carefully several excerpts from law school classroom exchanges,
we see that, as in the lower-status elementary school reading group, the law school
discourse is predominantly characterized by nonuptake:
Transcript 4.3 [PS/1]Prof.: [... ] on March 1. (.) B promises to pay Seller ten thousand dollars for
Whiteacre March 1. March 1 comes and goes (.) B now sues Seller for
breach (.) of Seller’s promise to deliver the title to Whiteacre on March 1.
Seller defends saying, “It is true that I did not deliver title on March 1 but
B did not tender ten thousand dollars on March 1.” That is a good
defense. Would you explain how the law goes about saying that it is a
good defense (.) Ms. A.?
Ms. A.: Well the- it’s a concurrent condition that in order for the Seller to tender
title Buyer must pay ten thousand dollars and that the Buyer pay ten
thousand // dollars //
Prof.: // Well // all right now you y- I just wanted to talk about this
one (thought) all right for the moment (.) it’s correct, what you said, but
let’s just talk about this- this is: B is entitled- now I asked you in this
assignment to describe e-exactly how- what the condition is that will
make this defense good.
[- negative uptake]
Ms. A.: That Seller could say- he could have transferred title to a Buyer (for) ten
thousand dollars.
Prof.: Well now there are two parts (). It doesn’t make any sense to talk about one
half of it without the other half; what are the two parts?
[- negative uptake]
Ms. A.: Seller would have to tender title if Buyer tendered the ten
// thousan- //
Prof.: // Well // n-name the two parts, would you, because people have a lot of
trouble with this.
[- negative uptake]
Ms. A.: (.03 silence)
Prof.: When you describe a condition what two things do you have to talk about?
[- negative uptake]
Ms. A.: Oh (that one) the duty it’s conditioned on and the event constituting the
condition.
Prof.: Okay. The duty and an event. And the event is the condition. You can de-
scribe that event without talking about the duty but there’s no sense in
doing it because uh- it’s going to sound () (it’s not going to mean any-
thing). All right. Now the duty in this case that we’re talking about is (.)