Forensic linguistics is the name given to a number of sub-disciplines within applied linguistics, and which relate to the interface between language, the law and crime. The range of topics is diverse: from the analysis of confessions to the language rights of ethnic minorities; from the assessment of threat in a ransom demand, to determining the authenticity of a suicide note. Broadly conceived, linguistics is the study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ... Law (from the late Old English lagu of probable North Germanic origin) in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, intended to provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide... This article is about the concept of a minority. ... The term ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner to extort money or property extorted to secure their release, or to the sum of money involved. ... Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending ones own life. ...
External links
Cardiff University's MA (or Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate) in Forensic Linguistics
This site gives a number of links to a wide variety of forensic linguistic resources
The website for the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics
Forensic stylistics is the examination of writing style "for the express purpose of resolving litigated questions related to disputed authorship or meaning." McMenamin, G. Forensic Stylistics, 58 Forensic Science Int'l, 1, 45 (1993) (hereinafter "McMenamin article").
More specifically, in cases of disputed authorship, the linguist analyzes and describes the style of writing of a document of questioned authorship and compares and contrasts its language to that of documents known to be written by a given author.
Forensic stylistics and text analysis both involve the examination of text or writing style; the only difference that the Court can glean between forensic stylistics and text analysis is that forensic stylistics is specifically geared towards resolving litigated questions related to disputed authorship or meaning.
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and someone who engages in this study is called a linguist or linguistician.
Applications of computational linguistics in machine translation, computer-assisted translation, and natural language processing are extremely fruitful areas of applied linguistics which have come to the forefront in recent years with increasing computing power.
Sociolinguistics, anthropological linguistics, and linguistic anthropology are social sciences that consider the interactions between linguistics and society as a whole.
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