Category: author identification

What is forensic linguistics?

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The purposes of language go far beyond communication; it can be used to affect or change how people think and behave.

Forensic linguistics is concerned with every aspect of language and the law.

…linguistics is virtually invisible to most people…Just as physicians are trained to see things in an X-ray that the average person with excellent vision cannot see, so linguists are trained to see and hear structures that are invisible to the lay person.

Roger Shuy, xvii, Language Crimes

A forensic linguist is sometimes a general practitioner and sometimes a specialist  in any of a number of sub-areas within the science. If you are a Shakespeare scholar, questions of authorship might interest you.  If your interest is in phonetics, then voice identification might appeal. A conversational analyst might be interested in the detection of emergency hoax calls…

What is forensic linguistics? full post

(991 words, 1 image, estimated 3:58 mins reading time)

Examples from the Forensic (Linguistic) Files

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Forensic linguistics – what’s that?

accmpanies post with case examples

Is a contract provision binding if its meaning is indeterminate or ambiguous?

At various places on this site, you’ll find somewhat abstract descriptions of the services I offer.  But what kinds of cases do I actually get involved in?  Examples follow (current cases excluded).

In three of my specialties, I’m about equally divided between Plaintiff and Defendant.  In cases of alleged academic plagiarism, I represent the Defendant, who typically has not committed plagiarism, even by the university’s own rules.  In cases of literary plagiarism, I represent Plaintiffs who believe that their work has been copied.

Examples from the Forensic (Linguistic) Files full post

(435 words, 1 image, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

The forensic linguist and the Artful Dodger: Can people deliberately fake their writing style?

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Can people disguise the way they write?

 

 

Can people deliberately fake their writing style?

By way of background…

Perhaps 25% of the cases I handle involve the authorship of anonymous, disputed, or forged documents.  The client wants to know who’s writing those nasty, threatening emails or letters.  I typically ask the client for writing samples from the suspected author.  Sometimes there’s more than one suspect, and I have to decide which of them may be the author of the anonymous document(s).

The forensic linguist and the Artful Dodger: Can people deliberately fake their writing style? full post

(910 words, 1 image, estimated 3:38 mins reading time)

What is forensic stylistics?

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Each writer has a distinctive pattern of linguistic features.

 

The following description is taken from an affidavit by Gerald R. McMenamin, one of the leading scholars in the field; the affidavit – from Case 1:10-cv-00569-RJA -LGF Document 50 Filed 06/02/11.

As part of his expert witness statement, McMenamin describes the theoretical and practical foundation of the method by which he examined documents and determined that they were not written by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerman. See http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/opinion/sunday/24gray.html .

These are the principles I apply to my authorship analyses.

Principles of stylistic analysis

What is forensic stylistics? full post

(342 words, 1 image, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)