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"What Did You Say?": Semantic Polysemy In California Juvenile Dependency Dispute Resolution, Kelly X. Ranasinghe

Kelly X Ranasinghe

Non-adversarial resolution of dependency cases is a statutorily mandated practice in California. Practitioners in California Juvenile Dependency courts attempt to settle cases without litigation, relying instead on negotiation between the various parties using informal discourse. This discourse utilizes polysemous dependency terms affecting the contextual understanding of statements by creating underlying ambiguity. The ambiguity of these terms creates communicative interference by engendering misunderstanding, lack of specificity and other communication problems. By recognizing polysemous qualities of core terms used in dependency discourse, practitioners can communicate more effectively and efficiently when resolving cases.