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Forensic Linguistics in Action

This book introduces readers to the field of forensic linguistics through 9 chapters that provide examples from actual criminal cases. The author, an expert in this field, wrote the book to share his extensive knowledge and experience gained from working on many cases. Publishing electronically allows the book to be easily updated and for readers to access detailed source materials. The goal is for readers to come away with a thorough understanding of the various areas and techniques of forensic linguistics.

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jolsson
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407 views3 pages

Forensic Linguistics in Action

This book introduces readers to the field of forensic linguistics through 9 chapters that provide examples from actual criminal cases. The author, an expert in this field, wrote the book to share his extensive knowledge and experience gained from working on many cases. Publishing electronically allows the book to be easily updated and for readers to access detailed source materials. The goal is for readers to come away with a thorough understanding of the various areas and techniques of forensic linguistics.

Uploaded by

jolsson
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Forensic Linguistics in Action

By Dr John Olsson

How to use this book

This book is intended to introduce you to the subject of Forensic


Linguistics, whether you are a student, a linguist, a lawyer or ‘just’ an
inquisitive reader who likes to know how ‘stuff works’. I’m an inquisitive
reader and I like to know how things work – and I’ve written and designed
the book around that basic motivation. Also, I get many inquiries from high
school seniors who want to know about forensic linguistics, and to have
examples of actual cases. I have been most impressed by the work of some
of these students, and it is hoped that they too will find this book useful in
their curriculum work.

But my reasons for writing this book go deeper: put simply, I have been
doing this work for a long time and I would like to pass on my knowledge
of it in the relatively informal format of electronic publishing, aside from
having done so through my book publishers, Continuum, who have already
published several of my titles, including Forensic Linguistics and
Wordcrime. As an electronic book, I can update this volume at any time,
and publish my revisions instantly, thanks to the miracle of the internet and
the various electronic book formats available there. This means that when
an important case occurs and I need to inform readers about it, I can do so
more or less instantly. Moreover, the costs of printing are high, and by
publishing in electronic format I can make the illustrations as lavish and
detailed as I think will be of help to readers, and I can place as many
documents as necessary at the reader’s disposal. In fact, if the reader
purchases the accompanying Forensic Linguistics Source Book, s/he will
see that it contains literally hundreds of examples of text of different types,
from police statements to anonymous letters, from transcriptions of mobile
phone texts in criminal cases to suicide notes (both genuine and fake). These
texts are not inventions: they come from actual criminal cases – most of
which I have worked on. I don’t wish to intrude myself on this text too
much, but because of my length of service in this field and the number of
criminal and civil cases I’ve worked on, I have gained not only a wide
experience, but I’ve also amassed a huge amount of data which will be of
use to students, criminologists, lawyers, and the general reader.

So, how to use this book? Chapter 1 introduces the topic in broad terms.
Read this chapter and you will have a good, if broad, idea of what forensic
linguists do. The second chapter goes on to give more detail, illustrating
with actual cases. You will find, in this chapter, many examples – both from
my own work and that of different colleagues – of forensic linguistics in
action. By the end of Chapter 2 you will be able to go to a dinner party and
tell your fellow guests ‘all about’ forensic linguistics. You will also have a
range of references of the ‘further reading’ type. From Chapter 2 on, you
will also find references to texts in the Forensic Linguistics Source Book.

Chapter 3 gets more detailed still. It is about the Language of the Law. It
documents the origins of legal language in different countries, and the
current state of knowledge of the subject. There is an introduction to some
of the main concepts and how they are handled in different languages, and
actual examples of cases which focused on, or related to, the meaning of
legal language are given.

In Chapter 4 we go inside the court room and look at what happens to


language there. How do the different players use language? What kinds of
linguistic strategy do they employ? Do lawyers really ‘play tricks’ on
witnesses? Do courts phrase orders in order to trap innocent citizens? How
do lawyers treat suspects and witnesses when talking to them and about
them? Are judges impartial and fair in their case summaries to juries? Can
juries actually understand judges? I will quote from some interesting studies
regarding issues of gender, vulnerability of witnesses and other aspects of
court interaction.

Chapter 5 is concerned with the language police officers use in the course of
their various duties – from reporting to their superiors to taking statements
from witnesses and suspects to communicating with the press. What are
their linguistic strategies? Is the term ‘copspeak’ justified? Are witnesses
and suspects really tricked, or even shoe-horned, into making admissions or
giving descriptions which are not always true?

Chapter 6 gets down to the nitty gritty: the expert linguist, both at the report
writing stage and the stage where s/he goes into court and gives evidence.
Cases of four types are discussed: (a) authorship (b) interpretation of
meaning and (c) cases of intellectual property, including trademark disputes.

I have done both many times and as a result can give the reader the inside
track on what is involved. This chapter is richly illustrated with examples
from my case files, backed up by actual copies of the texts in the Forensic
Linguistics Source Book, so it is almost as good as being in court with me.
Not only will I discuss actual case material, I will also show some of the
techniques forensic linguists use in their analyses.

Chapter 7 looks at speaker identification and other aspects of acoustics and


phonetics. Chapter 8 discusses the use of corpus linguistics in forensic work.
Chapter 9 ‘mops up’ the topic by discussing other types of case not
previously referred to in the book, including the interpretation of official
letters, plagiarism and ‘language crimes’. These are mostly not from my
own files, but I summarise – and refer the reader to – the work of others.

Throughout the book, there are references to forensic texts and other
material in the Forensic Linguistics Source Book, references to the work
of other linguists (in the form of ‘Further Reading’) and suggestions for
student projects in forensic linguistics.

It is hoped that by reading this book and studying it in the ways suggested, the reader
will come to have a thorough grasp of forensic linguistics in all its many aspects,
including the opportunity – through the ‘project suggestions’ to ‘work’ some of the
cases. This means that the book can also be used as a training manual in law
enforcement and in law schools.

www.thetext.co.uk

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