A Definition of Forensic Linguistics

Forensic Linguistics is the application of linguistic techniques to legal and security issues. It involves the analysis of both written and spoken materials for characteristics of expression, meaning, implication, and/or content. Forensic linguists specialize in having detailed knowledge of language in common use, which provides an advantage in analyzing language in the legal setting. In particular, we have experience in the scientific analysis of large bodies of text and speech, and are able to exploit the statistical regularities of language in common use for forensic purposes. In other words, linguistic judgment, even in the most highly-educated users of a language, is limited by personal experience. Our experience with large-scale linguistic survey and corpus research affords us a greater understanding than that of the average language user, simply from additional exposure, which we in turn are able to apply to particular linguistic problems and comparisons. We are also able to apply special techniques of linguistic analysis to passages of text or speech to reveal not just what the words themselves say, but what the linguistic and communicative structures indicate about the meaning of the passage or the culture/experience of the author.

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