BA English Language and Chinese / Course details

This course introduces students to forensic linguistics and, more specifically, to the use of linguistics to provide evidence in criminal or civil cases. When language becomes evidence in a forensic case, a linguist can be called as an expert witness regarding various matters, such as, for example, the authorship of a text, the meaning of a particular word or phrase, or the modality of production of a text. The use of linguistic knowledge and methods can provide these answers and the aim of the course is to demonstrate how this is done. Through the use of lectures and seminars, the course will develop the theoretical and applied knowledge for the students to carry out forensic linguistic analyses on real cases. In addition, students will learn the implications of this type of work for the field of linguistics in general.

The syllabus below is an indication only:

Week 1. Introduction to Forensic Linguistics

Week 2. The birth of Forensic Linguistics

Week 3. Idiolect and linguistic uniqueness

Week 4. Forensic authorship attribution

Week 5. Forensic authorship profiling

Week 6. Textual borrowing and plagiarism

Week 7. Language crimes

Week 8. Issues of meaning

Week 9. Linguistic evidence for trademark cases

Week 10. The linguist as expert witness

Week 11. Revision

The teaching for the course will include lectures and seminars in which case studies will be examined using the techniques and tools currently adopted by forensic linguists. Each week students will present their findings on a case introduced the week before. The first two seminars will be tutorials in a computer lab aimed at familiarising students with some of the corpus linguistic tools used in class.

Lectures and supporting materials will be made available on Blackboard.

• Have an understanding of the basic methodologies to analyse texts in a forensic context
• Have an understanding of the register characteristics of malicious forensic texts
• Know the history of forensic linguistics
• Know the main findings related to key cases in forensic linguistics
• Understand the state of the art of individuality in language production

• Critically evaluate the literature regarding forensic linguistics
• Critically evaluate conclusions of a forensic linguistic analysis
• Be able to describe the language of a malicious forensic text
• Develop professional knowledge in the application of linguistic theory to naturally occurring texts

• Apply linguistic methods to solve forensic problems
• Develop professional knowledge in the analysis of texts for forensic purposes
• Develop general knowledge of the provision of evidence in court

• Develop general problem solving skills
• Develop the verbal and written abilities to express conclusions
• Be able to apply linguistic theories to solve real-word problems
• Develop general knowledge of investigation procedures

Coulthard, M., & Johnson, A. 2007. An Introduction to Forensic Linguistics. London: Routledge

McMenamin, G. R. 2002. Forensic Linguistics: Advances in Forensic Stylistics. Boca Raton, Fla: CRC Press.

Olsson, J. 2003. Forensic Linguistics: An Introduction to Language, Crime and the Law. London: Continuum.

Shuy, R. 1996. Language Crimes: Use and Abuse of Language Evidence in the Court Room. Oxford: Blackwell.

Solan, L. M., & Tiersma. P. M. 2005. Speaking of Crime: The Language of Criminal Justice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.