Forensic Linguistics

‘The substantially revised edition of this pioneering forensic linguistics textbook combines the formidable expertise and wisdom of two of the field’s most respected leaders with the fresh perspective of one of its bright new scholars. Students will love the fascinating illustrative data from a large number of real cases from five continents.’ Diana Eades, University of New England, Australia Praise for the First Edition ‘Seldom do introductions to any field offer such a wealth of information or provide such a useful array of exercise activities for students in the way that this book does. Coulthard and Johnson not only provide their readers with extensive examples of the actual evidence used in the many law cases described here but they also show how the linguist’s “toolkit” was used to address the litigated issues. In doing this, they give valuable insights about how forensic linguists think, do their analyses and, in some cases, even testify at trial.’ Roger W. Shuy, Distinguished Research Professor of Linguistics, Emeritus, Georgetown University, USA ‘This is a wonderful textbook for students, providing stimulating examples, lucid accounts of relevant linguistic theory and excellent further reading and activities. The foreign language of law is also expertly documented, explained and explored. Language as evidence is cast centre stage; coupled with expert linguistic analysis, the written and spoken clues uncovered by researchers are foregrounded in unfolding legal dramas. Coulthard and Johnson have produced a clear and compelling work that contains its own forensic linguistic puzzle.’ Annabelle Mooney, Roehampton University, UK This page intentionally left blank An Introduction to Forensic Linguistics An Introduction to Forensic Linguistics: Language in Evidence has established itself as the essential textbook written by leading authorities in this expanding field. The second edition of this bestselling textbook begins with a new introduction and continues in two parts. Part One deals with the language of the legal process, and begins with a substan- tial new chapter exploring key theoretical and methodological approaches. In four updated chapters it goes onto cover the language of the law, initial calls to the emergency services, police interviewing, and courtroom discourse. Part Two looks at language as evidence, with substantially revised and updated chapters on the following key topics: • the work of the forensic linguist • forensic phonetics • authorship attribution • the linguistic investigation of plagiarism • the linguist as expert witness. The authors combine an array of perspectives on forensic linguistics, using knowledge and experience gained in legal settings – Coulthard in his work as an expert witness for cases such as the Birmingham Six and the Derek Bentley appeal, and Johnson as a former police officer. Research tasks, further reading, web links, and a new conclusion ensure that this remains the core textbook for courses in forensic linguistics and language and the law. A glossary of key terms is also available at https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138641716 and on the Routledge Language and Communication Portal. Malcolm Coulthard is Emeritus Professor of Forensic Linguistics at Aston University, UK, and Visiting Professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. He is the co-editor of the recently launched international journal Language and Law, Linguagem e Direito and author of many books including An Introduction to Discourse Analysis (1985). Alison Johnson is Lecturer in English Language at the University of Leeds, UK. She is the co-editor (with Malcolm Coulthard) of The Routledge Handbook of Forensic Linguistics (2010) and an editor of The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law. David Wright is Lecturer in Linguistics at Nottingham Trent University, UK, and Reviews editor of Language and Law, Linguagem e Direito. An Introduction to Forensic Linguistics Language in Evidence Second edition Malcolm Coulthard, Alison Johnson and David Wright Second edition published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Malcolm Coulthard, Alison Johnson and David Wright The right of Malcolm Coulthard, Alison Johnson and David Wright to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Routledge 2007 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Coulthard, Malcolm, author. | Johnson, Alison, 1959- author. | Wright, David, 1948 December 10-Title: An Introduction to forensic linguistics/ by Malcolm Coulthard, Alison Johnson and David Wright. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY ; Routledge, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016007458 | ISBN 9781138641709 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138641716 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315630311 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Forensic linguistics. Classification: LCC K2287.5 C68 2016 | DDC 363.25–dc23LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016007458 ISBN: 978-1-138-64170-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-64171-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-3156-3031-1 (ebk) Typeset in Times by Cenveo Publisher Services This book is affectionately dedicated to our families This page intentionally left blank Contents List of illustrations xiii Acknowledgements xv 1 Introduction 1 Legal words, murder, plagiarism, trademarks and a voice hoax 2 Who is this book for? 3 Organisation of the book 4 Reading and research tasks and how they function 4 The second edition 5 PART I The Language of the Legal Process 7 2 Critical, theoretical, and methodological approaches to language in legal settings 9 Introduction – Powerful professionals and ordinary people 9 Sociolinguistics and forensic linguistics 14 Pragmatics and legal language 19 (Critical) Discourse and Conversation Analysis 22 Corpus linguistics 26 Conclusion 29 Further reading 30 Research task 30 3 The language of the law 31 Introduction 31 Legal style and register 33 Ordinary and special meanings 44 On applying the law 46 Conclusion 48 x Contents Further reading 49 Research tasks 49 4 Emergency service calls and police interviewing 51 Collecting evidence in first encounters with witnesses and suspects 51 Introduction 51 First encounters – calls to the emergency services 52 Active listening in police negotiations when making an arrest 56 Police interviews and statements 58 Vulnerable witnesses – on interviewing children and rape victims 67 Context, intertextuality and audience design 70 Conclusion 72 Further reading 73 Research tasks 74 5 Trial discourse 75 Introduction – into the courtroom 76 The trial as a complex genre 77 Trial genres – from jury selection to deliberation and verdict 80 Examination and cross-examination of witnesses 82 Narrative in the courtroom 94 The expert witness in the courtroom 96 Children in the courtroom 97 Conclusion 100 Further reading 101 Research tasks 101 PART II Language as Evidence 103 6 The work of the forensic linguist 105 Introduction 105 Morphological meaning and phonetic similarity 105 Syntactic complexity 108 Lexico-grammatical ambiguity 109 Lexical meaning 110 Pragmatic meaning 112 The recording of interaction in written form – police interview notes 117 Narrative analysis of a disputed statement 120 The challenges for non-native speakers 122 Conclusion 127 Contents xi Further reading 128 Research tasks 128 7 Forensic phonetics 129 The work of the forensic phonetician 129 Transcription and disputed utterances 130 Analysing the human voice 133 Speaker profiling 135 Speaker comparison 138 Naïve speaker recognition, earwitnesses and voice parades 145 Conclusion 149 Further reading 149 Research tasks 150 8 Authorship attribution 151 Introduction 151 A brief history of authorship attribution 152 Linguistic variation and style markers 155 Consistency and distinctiveness 157 The Jenny Nicholl case 158 Combining stylistics and statistics: The Amanda Birks case 160 Corpus methods in authorship attribution 162 Conclusion 171 Further reading 171 Research tasks 171 9 On textual borrowing 174 Introduction 174 The history of plagiarism 175 Universities and plagiarism 176 Plagiarism and translation 182 Do people repeat themselves? 184 The evidential value of single identical strings 189 Coda 190 Further reading 191 Research tasks 191 10 The linguist as expert witness 193 On being an expert witness 193 Admissible evidence 194 Expressing opinions 196 xii Contents Measuring success statistically 206 Consulting and testifying as tour guides 210 Further reading 213 Research task 213 11 Conclusion 215 Contributing to society 215 Codes of conduct 216 New developments and future directions 217 The next generation 219 Closing statement 220 References 222 Index 246 List of illustrations Figures 2.1âConcordance

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