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that mark the steps that need to be performed in order to fill in the
information needed to complete the forms for a divorce. The avatar
“speaks” instructions to the user, and there are buttons on the screen to
click to go farther along the program. As buttons are pushed, screens pop
up for the insertion of information by the user, such as names and other
facts. Although not very visible on this small screen, the building in the
background is meant to be a courthouse. The whole program is based on
the conceptual metaphor behind “going to court”, i.e., the STEPS ON A
JOURNEYĺSTEPS IN A PROCESS metaphor once again.
The second cognitive aspect of this metaphoric presentation is that it
simultaneously invokes the legal process frame. Filling out court forms is
part of the pre-trial procedure and is done before one actually goes to
court. So, even though the user is engaged at his own computer at home or
at a library, he is drawn into the legal world, into the frame that he must
enter.
When limiting my concern about legal frames to that experienced by
self-represented litigants, I have found very little work done by linguists of
any sort, not just cognitive linguists. The best work has come from
Professor William O’Barr, a discourse analyst, and his partner, John
Conley, a law professor. (Conley 1990, Conley 2005) Even they were not
concerned with self-represented litigants, but rather with the reaction of
clients who were involved in litigation. Professors Conley and O’Barr
placed such litigants into two categories—those who are rule-oriented and
those who are relationship-oriented—but they note that actual people
exhibit both orientations and sometimes evolve from one (usually
relationship-oriented) to the other (rule-oriented) as they move through the
justice system (Conley 1990).
One common complaint by lawyers is the problem they have with
unsophisticated clients who bring them a bundle of separate legal matters
that they presume can all be handled in one legal case. This is typical
when, for instance, a person complains about the many inconsiderations he
has suffered at the hands of a neighbor (dog barks all the time, tree hangs
over the property line, music is too loud, etc.). Most people expect other
people to be nice, and problems that lead to lawsuits deteriorate
relationships.
Of course, these issues also pop up for divorces. Divorces, as noted
above, are for the purpose of solving relationship issues, but not all
problems fall neatly within the purview of divorce law.
The courts must divide matters up into separate issues that they can
make judgments on in accordance with legal precedence. If a matter is the
result of a single tortious act, even though several legal issues may be