It describes research findings from a multidisciplinary study about presenting information in the courtroom and discusses the role of powerful and powerless language based on the premise that women and men talk differently in American society. Narrative versus fragmented testimony is examined covering length of answers from witnesses, response matching, hypercorrection, interruptions, and the wrong number technique. The implications of this study are then presented for both other languages and for the deaf. Topics covered include deixis, accounts people give in court such as in the small claims environment, and audience behavior. The presentation ends with suggestions for the interpreters regarding their roles in the courtroom and the issue of style. 14 notes