New Frontiers In Forensic Linguistics

The field of forensic linguistics is a niche area that has not enjoyed much participation from the African continent. The theme of language and the law in this book is one that straddles two important aspects of the legal history of South Africa in particular, and how it has impacted on the country?s legal and education systems. The declaration, by the United Nations, of 2019 as ?The International Year of Indigenous Languages? is opportune, not only for the launch of this book, but for what its research content tells us of the strides taken in ensuring access to justice for all citizens of the world in a language they understand. The contributions by authors in this book tell the story of many African citizens, and those hailing from beyond our borders, who straddle the challenges of linguistic and legal pluralism in courtrooms across their respective countries. It is our hope that the contributions made in this book will assist in ensuring human rights become a reality for global citizens where indigenous voices have not been heard; and that these citizens will be free to give their testimonies in a language of their choice, and that they may be heard and understood.

Language and the Law: Global Perspectives in Forensic Linguistics from Africa and beyond is the third volume in a series of books designed to contribute and respond to growing interest in forensic linguistics or language and the law on the African continent. Drawing mostly on contexts where traditional African laws and Western laws are practised side-by-side, and where there are discontinuities between local knowledge systems, belief systems and language practices on the one hand, and official languages of law discourse, conceptualisation and jurisprudence documentation on the other, the chapters in this volume problematise, among other issues, the mediation practices (or lack thereof) of language and legal processes, discourse strategies and complexities in (mis)interpretations in second language court contexts and the miscarriage of justice that these may entail.

Researching Forensic Linguistics is an informative, hands-on guide to conducting research in forensic linguistics that can underpin legal and justice practices and address social justice problems involving language. Georgina Heydon takes readers step by step through the research process using case studies that draw on different types of forensic and legal language data such as police interviews, anonymous reports of sexual assault, threatening letters and justice stakeholder interviews. Each chapter is framed by a language problem arising from either forensic linguistic case work or a key issue in language and the law. Up-to-date research methods in forensic linguistics are presented, including authorship attribution using online corpora, practice-based linguistic analysis and experimental techniques. This is an ideal companion for linguists who want to apply their skills to a forensic setting, practitioners in the legal and justice fields seeking to understand how linguistic analysis can support their work, and any student undertaking research in forensic linguistics within English language, linguistics, applied linguistics and legal studies.

This is a selection of papers presented at two 1993-conferences on various areas of research in 'language and law', the Bonn, July 1993, First International Conference of the «International Association of Forensic Linguists» and the 'Forensic Linguistics'-Workshop at the Xth World Congress of AILA in Amsterdam, August 1993. The volume documents theoretical (linguistic) implications, methodological postulates, a variety of analytical techniques and tools, professional and ethical maxims and the multitude of «real world»-problems faced and tackled by the forensic linguistic expert giving testimony in court. It marks the beginning of a truly international discussion of representatives of the field from various countries and cultural backgrounds.

A revised and updated edition of John Olsson's practical introduction to Forensic Lingusitics. Provides essential reading for students and researchers approaching this branch of linguistics for the first time.

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 substantial new chapter exploring key theoretical and methodological approaches. In four updated chapters it goes on to 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 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.

The Routledge Handbook of Forensic Linguistics offers a comprehensive survey of the subdiscipline of Forensic Linguistics, with this new edition providing both updated overviews from leading figures in the field and exciting new contributions from the next generation of forensic linguists. The Handbook is a unique work of reference to the leading ideas, debates, topics, approaches and methodologies in forensic linguistics and language and the law. It comprises 43 chapters, including entirely new contributions from many international experts, in the areas of Aboriginal claimants, appraisal and stance, author identities online, biased language in capital trials, corpus approaches, false confessions, forensic phonetics, forensic transcription, the historical courtroom, legal interpretation, multilingual law, police crisis negotiation, speaker profiling, and trolling. The chapters include a wealth of examples and case studies so the reader can see forensic linguistics applied and in action. Edited and authored by the world’s leading academics and practitioners, The Routledge Handbook of Forensic Linguistics is a vital resource for advanced students, researchers and scholars, and will also be of interest to legal, law enforcement and security professionals.

A Handbook on Legal Languages and the Quest for Linguistic Equality in South Africa and Beyond is an interdisciplinary publication located in the discipline of forensic linguistics/ language and law. This handbook includes varying comparative African and global case studies on the use of language(s) in courtroom discourse and higher education institutions: Kenya; Morocco; Nigeria; Australia; Belgium Canada and India. These African and global case studies form the backdrop for the critique of the monolingual English language of record policy for South African courts, the core of this handbook, discussed in relation to case law and the beleaguered legal interpretation profession. This handbook argues that linguistic transformation and decolonisation of South Africa’s legal and higher education systems needs to be undertaken where legal practitioners are linguistically equipped to litigate in a bilingual/ multilingual courtroom that enables access to justice for the majority of African language speaking litigants, enforcing their constitutional language rights.