Particularities of defense in judicial rhetoric

The article examines the linguistic particularities of defense in judicial rhetoric that have not considerably changed since Antiquity. As at present the interest in judicial rhetoric has increased, it is necessary to carry out its comprehensive analysis with the consideration of its modern modifications. In the course of history, judicial rhetoric has preserved its main rules to be used in Modern Times by Western culture advocates for defense purposes. Special attention is paid to stylistic devices, phonetic means and linguistic features to discern that are most frequently used by the advocates in their defense speeches. As stylistic devices are the best means of persuasion of the jurors and public in court, they are indispensable in advocates’ defense speeches and are the focus of the given paper. As the advocates’ defense speeches concentrate mainly on persuasion and thus with emotions rather than reason the author focuses on the expressive language means.