3. Forensic Science
• “forensic” basically answering questions of
interest in a legal setting.
• Umbrella term encompassing:
• The physiological sciences, anthropology,
entomology, botany, biology.
• Criminalistics such as ballistics, accounting and
fingerprints.
• And the social sciences including psychology,
and LINGUISTICS.
4. Forensic Linguistics
• A relatively new discipline
• The use of linguistic theory to:
• Interpret the law
• Facilitate and analyze law to lay person
interactions
• And to compile expert linguistic evidence
5. “[[Would it be
incorrect to
suggest]
that it was
not so much
a tripping
but]
[because of the state
of inebriation of
yourself,] [that you
fell over]?”
7. General Pattern ± Explicit Negative Response Time
True affirmative The square is present. Fastest
False affirmative The circle is present.
False negative The square isn’t present.
True negative The circle isn’t present. Slowest
8. “[[Would it be
incorrect to
suggest]
that it was
not so much
a tripping
but]
[because of the state
of inebriation of
yourself,] [that you
fell over]?”
9.
10.
11.
12. Disputed authorship
• Idiolect – individuals unique linguistically.
• Potential authors in a case of disputed texts.
• Individual sylism in text messages.
13. Known Text Messages
• Yeah shudbgud.i just have2get myfinga out
and do anothatape.wil do it on sun.will seems
keen2x
• Shit is it.fuck icant2day ive already booked2go
bowling.cantrealy pull out.wil go2shop and
get her sumetsoon.thanx4tdlin me x
• No reason just seing what ur up2.want2go
shopping on fri and2will’s on sun if ur
up2itSorryimnot out2nite havnt seen u 4a
while aswel.ru free2moro at all x
14. Disputed Text Messages
• Thought uwer grassing me up.miteb in trubwivme dad told mum i
was lvingdidntgiv a shit.been2 kessick camping was great.ave2 go
cya
• Hi jen tell jaki am ok know ever 1s gonab mad tell themi am
sorry.living in Scotland wiv my boyfriend. shittingmeselfdads gona
kill me mum dont give a shite.hopenikdidnt grass me up.keeping
phone of.tell dad car jumps out of gear and stalls put it back in
auction.tell himi am sorry
• Y do u h8 me i know mum does.told her i was goin.iaint cumin back
and the pigs wont find me.i am happy living up here.every1 h8s me
in rich only m8 i got is jak.txtu couple wks tell pigsi am nearly 20
aint cumin back they can shiteoff
• She got me in this shit its her fault not mine get blame 4evrything.i
am sorry ok just had 2lveshes a bitch no food in and always
searching me room eating me sweets.ave2 go oki am very sorry x
15. Study by Tim Grant
In 5000+ text messages, between a 500+
member data pool texts from the same author
were more similar than those between
different authors.
16. References
• Coulthard, M. The Linguist as Detective & Expert Witness.
Conducted from Aston
University, Birmingham, England. May 13, 2008.
• Coulthard, M., & Johnson, A. (Eds.). (2010). The Routledge
Handbook of Forensic
Linguistics. (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
• Olsson, J. (2004). 10 Forensic Text Types. In Forensic
Linguistics An Introduction To Language, Crime And The
Law.. (1st ed.). New York, NY: Continuum International
Publishing Group.
• Parker, F., & Riley, K. (2010). Linguistics For Non-Linguists.
(5th ed.). Boston, MA: PearsonEducation, Inc.
