Human verbal language communicates both manifest and latent messages concerning the speaker's world and behavior. To understand his world and analyze his problems,1 it is important to decode the latent messages as they may hint at the root causes. The authors present a discourse analysis of a prisoner's text and a semantic and morphological analysis of it. This text reflects contempt for the law and its representatives, together with a weak attachment to legitimate society, neutralization of personal responsibility, denial of guilt, and low self-esteem. Sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic analysis points toward a more profound evaluation of the perceptions and world of the speaker. It seems that he yearns for attachment, for understanding and social acceptance, and perhaps even to abandon crime. The prisoner's latent feelings of helplessness and fear of humiliation may help the therapist establish a therapeutic relationship and help him change his perceptions and behavior.
Bargh, J., Chaiken, S., Govender, R., & Pratto, F. (1992). The generality of the automatic activation effect . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 863-912.
2.
Bruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
3.
Chomsky, N. (1980). Language and unconscious knowledge. In N. Chomsky (Ed.), Rules and representations (pp. 217-254). New York: Columbia University Press.
4.
Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. London: Longman.
5.
Feldman, R., & Rosen, F. (1978). Diffusion of responsibility in crime, punishment and other adversity. Law and Human Behavior, 2, 313-322.
6.
Fitts, W., & Hamner, T. (1969). The self concept and delinquency. Nashville, TN: Mental Health Center.
7.
Fowler, R., Hodge, B., Kress, G., & Trew, T. (1979). Language and control. London : Routledge & Kegan Paul.
8.
Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. In ( J. Starchey, Trans. & Ed.), The standard edition of the complete psychological work of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 3-68). London: Hogarth.
9.
Gergen, K. (1991). The saturated self. New York : Basic Books.
10.
Gillepsie, W. (2003). Prisonization: Individual and institutional factors affecting inmate conduct. New York: Lfb Scholarly Pub.
11.
Gottfredson, M., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
12.
Greenwood, A., & Banaji, M. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitude, self-esteem and stereotypes. Psychological Review,102, 4-27.
13.
Halliday, M.A.K. (1970). Language structure and language function. In J. Lyons (Ed.), New horizons in linguistic structure (pp. 145-165). New York: Penguin.
14.
Halliday, M.A.K., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. White Plains, NY: Longman.
15.
Hare, R. (1991). The Hare Psychopathy Check List Revised. New York: MHS.
16.
Hilgard, E. (1992). Divided consciousness and dissociation. Consciousness and Cognition, 1, 16-31.
17.
Hirschi, T. (1969). The causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.
18.
Hodge, R., & Kress, G. (1993). Language as ideology. London : Routledge.
19.
Homant, R., & Dean, D. (1998). The effect of prisonization and self-esteem on inmates' career maturity. Journal of Offender Counseling, Services & Rehabilitation, 12(2), 19-40.
20.
Huckin, T.N. (1997). Critical discourse analysis. In T. Miller (Ed.), Functional approaches to written texts (pp. 79-92). Washington, DC: USIA.
21.
Katz, A. (1998). Figurative language and figurative thought. In A. Katz, C. Cacciari, R. Gibbs, & M. Turner (Eds.), Figurative language and thought (pp. 3-44). New York: Oxford University Press.
22.
Kernberg, O.F. (1992). Aggression in personality disorders and perversions . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
23.
Kihlstrom, J. (1987). The cognitive unconscious. Science , 237, 1445-1452.
24.
Kihlstrom, J. (1990). The psychological unconscious. In H. Pervin (Ed.), The handbook of personality (pp. 445-464). New York: Guilford.
25.
Kornhauser, R. (1978). Social sources of delinquency: An appraisal of analytical models. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
26.
Kress, G., & Hodge, B. (1979). Language and ideology. London : Routledge & Kegan Paul.
27.
Lamb, S. (1991). Acts without agents: An analysis of linguistic avoidance in journal articles of men who batter women. American Journal of Orthopsichiatry,61, 250-257.
28.
Landau, R. (1986). Rhetorical style as a persuasive instrument in political speeches. HebrewLinguistics, 24, 43-68.
29.
Lapaire, J.R., & Rotge, W. (1998). Towards a psycho-grammatical description of the English language. In T. Miller (Ed.), Functional approaches to written text (pp. 201-215). Washington, DC: USLA.
30.
Leach, G. (1974). Semantics. New York: Penguin.
31.
Lemke, J. (1995). Textual politics: Discourse and social dynamics . London: Taylor & Francis.
32.
Loos, E., Anderson, S., Day, D., & Jordan, P. (2003). Glossary of linguistic terms. Retrieved February 23, 2006, from www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/Index.htm
33.
Lorenz, G. (1999) Adjective intensification—Learners versus native speakers. Amsterdam: Rodopi .
34.
Lyons, J. (1968). Introduction to theoretical linguistics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
35.
Maitland, K., & Wilson, J. (1987). Pronominal selection and ideological conflict. Journal ofPragmatics, 11, 495-512.
36.
McCorkle, L., & Korn, R. (1954). Resocialization within walls. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 293, 88-98.
37.
Mealey, L. (1992). The sociobiology of sociopathy: An integrated evolutionary model. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 18, 523-599.
38.
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
39.
Nisbet, R., & Wilson, T. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review,84, 231-259.
40.
Notkevich, A. (1991). Projective identification as a defense against jealousy. Sichot,5, 178-186.
41.
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leach, G., & Svartvik, J. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English language . White Plains, NY: Longman.
42.
Reber, A. (1992). The cognitive unconscious: An evolutionary perspective . Consciousness and Cognition, 1, 93-133.
43.
Reber, A. (1993). Implicit learning and tacit knowledge: An essay on the cognitive unconscious. New York: Oxford University Press.
44.
Reber, A. (1997). How to differentiate implicit and explicit modes of acquisition. In J. Cohen & J. Schooler (Eds.), Scientific approaches to consciousness (pp. 137-159). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
45.
Richards, J., Platt, J., & Weber, H. (1985). Longman dictionary of applied linguistics. London: Harlow.
46.
Rodrigue-Schwarzwald, O., & Sokoloff, M. (1992). A dictionary of linguistics and philology. Even-Yehuda, Israel: Reches.
47.
Sarbin, T., & Kitsuse, J. (1994). Constructing the social. London : Sage.
48.
Scott, M., & Lyman, S. (1968). Accounts. American Sociological Review, 33, 46-62.
49.
Shapiro, D. (1960). Neurotic styles. New York: Basic Books.
50.
Sigmon, S., & Snyder, C. (1993). Looking at oneself in a rose-colored mirror: The role of excuses in the negotiation of a personal reality. In M. Lewis & C. Saarni (Eds.), Lying and deception in every day life (pp. 48-165). New York: Guilford.
51.
Sykes, G., & Matza, D. (1957). Techniques of neutralization. American Sociological Review, 22, 664-670.
52.
Szasz, T. (1961). The myth of mental illness. New York: Harper & Row.
53.
Van Dijk, T.A. (2001). Critical discourse analysis. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. Hamilton (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 352-371). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
54.
Weinberger, J., & Weiss, J. (1997). Psychoanalitic and cognitive conceptions of the unconscious. In D. Stein (Ed.), Cognitive science and the unconscious (pp. 23-54). Washington, DC : American Psychiatric Press.
55.
Zuckerman, M. (1991). The psychobiology of personality. Cambridge, UK : Cambridge University Press.
