What is Forensic Linguistics?

When you first hear the term 'Forensic Linguistics', you would probably wonder, Forensic and Linguistics! How? Right?

 The OED defines 'forensic' as "something that is connected with the scientific tests used by the police when trying to solve a crime", while the Cambridge Dictionary defines it as "related to scientific methods of solving crimes, involving examining the objects or substances that are involved in the crime". Basically, forensic connotes the legal forum or the judicial system.

 What then, does linguistics have to do with the law and crime? 

Language is ubiquitous, and 'it has often been said that the law is the language that enshrines it. Not only do we need language to frame the law but we need language to understand the law. They are inseparable.' (John Olsson) 

Thus, linguists have become more interested in the characteristics of  language in the legal forum. How does it operate, what is the register and does the legal meaning tally with the lay meaning? Although language and the law are said to be intertwined, it is suprising that forensic linguistics is a relative new comer to the linguistic party. 

In 1968, in the UK, a certain Timothy John Evans was accused, convicted and hanged for the murder of his wife and baby. However, the police statement displayed some inconsistencies that pointed to Timothy's Innocence. 

On that note, professor Jan Svartvik undertook a linguistic stylistic analysis of the police statement claimed to be made by Evans. He discovered the existence of two styles in the text- an educated written form and a spoken style. Svartvik established that the statement could not have been dictated by Evans as claimed by the police. He described his analysis as Forensic Linguistics. 

This marked the official beginning of Forensic Linguistics, on the premise of authorship identification. Therefore, Forensic Linguistics could be defined as the application of linguistic analysis to texts- spoken or written- relating to the law, judicial proceedings and crime- in a bid to aid the judicial procedure. 

Furthermore, according to John Olsson, Forensic Linguistics may 'draw from different fields of Linguistics such as conversation analysis, discourse analysis, the theory of grammar or speech acts theory' because the data received may require the investigation of the structure of a given conversation, turn taking or the actions performed in a text.

 However, one recurrent or linking element in the existing forensic linguistics cases, is authorship identification. That is, Jan Svartvik's investigation of the police statement was motivated by the need to identify its authorship. Other cases described by John Olsson, including the 'Birmingham Six, the Guildford four, the Bridgewater Three, etc.' , were motivated by the need to establish the authorship of statements or whether they were made in coercive and unfavourable conditions. 

In addition, other branches of Forensic Linguistics include Forensic Discourse Analysis, Sociolinguistic Profiling, Forensic Phonetics, Forensic Stylistics, and ofcourse, plagiarism check. As established in the initial paragraphs, Forensic Linguistics is a relatively new field of linguistics.

 Thus, opportunities for in-depth research abound therein. Linguists may however, need to equip themselves with the knowledge of legal studies- as practiced locally and internationally- and other related fields which would aid their analyses and researches. Also, linguists and lawyers may need to establish common grounds for the interpretation of certain words/phrases in certain contexts to aid the legal process. 

Finally, forensic linguistics refers to the application of linguistic science to the legal forum in a bid to ' assist in the identification of suspects or witnesses' or to 'submit analysis of spoken or written language as evidence in court along with the testimony of a linguist' who is considered as an expert witness (Fadden&Disner, 2018). The term was first used by Professor Jan Svartvik in his analysis of the Evans case.

 Since then, many forensic analyses bordered on the establishment of authorship of texts. This field of applied linguistics, is a relatively new field which holds opportunities for Linguists and legal practitioners. 

Zainab Aderounmu A. W.,

Editor-in-Chief,

NASELS SOUTHWEST.