Corpus Linguistics: Forensic Linguistics
ENGL 4740 Computer Applications in Language Studies
Corpus Linguistics Assignment
Title: Kurt Cobain’s Suicide Note Case: Forensic Linguistic Profiling Analysis
Author: Eva T. S. Sudjana Nurul Fitri
URL: http://ijcst.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/ijcst/article/view/37943/34410
To identify the genuineness of his suicide note.
To figure out the motives of the subject dealing with suicide.
To make the authorship profiling of Kurt Cobain based on the lexical which contain negative meaning that is related to his psychological.
What is the authorship profiling of the author of the suicide note?
How is the application of linguistic fields can be a powerful tool in investigating suicide letter or note?
Corpus: Legal text (Kurt Cobain’s suicide letter)
Framework: Semantic forensic
He regrets the way he treats people around him.
He is feeling uneasy about things happening around him.
Forensic Linguistics as a Tool
Solving cases through language point of view.
Investigate the real motive of a criminal/suicide.
In conclusion, forensic linguistics plays an important role in investigating and solving crimes. Its implementation is necessary for law enforcement as it protects the rights of the innocents while the real convict gets punished. As it is an important branch of linguistics Malaysia should also establish a department specializes in Forensic Linguistics. This is to ensure justice is upheld.
1. What is forensic linguistics?
The term forensic linguistics was introduced by linguistics professor Jan Svartvik (1968)
Forensic linguistics is the application of linguistics to legal issues.
The application of linguistic research and methods to the law
Focuses on crime investigation and legal issues.
New discipline to linguistics and law
To achieve the success of legal investigations
To attain truth in judicial processes.
Where do forensic linguists apply this knowledge?
Legal cases or proceedings
Private disputes between parties
2. What are the corpora used in forensic linguistics?
Corpora can be divided into two categories: verbal and written
Audio: voice identification, voice recording, phone calls
Suicide letters, diaries, text messages, legal writings, contracts, wills.
3. How do forensic linguistic help in solving crimes?
Linguist analyses voice of the convict and suspect of the crime and compare to what they got from the recording of the crime.
This comparison later will be used as evidence in court which may play the pivotal role in courts and among jury members in conviction or acquittal of an individual.
Besides pronunciation and dialect, the pronunciation manner of one specific letter in a word can also contribute valuable information about the identity of the convict.
Linguist attempts at analyzing notes with unknown authors by making inferences on the author’s background such as age and education.
Linguist usually involve in three stages in solving crime such as;
1. Investigation stage: Forensic linguist is called to give an opinion on text or interview tape in order to assist police in further interrogation.
2. Trial stage: A number of types of linguistic analysis may be called for, including questions of authorship (Who wrote the text?/Who is the speaker in this recording?), meaning and interpretation (Does this word mean x, y or something else?), threat analysis (Does the text contains a threat?), or text provenance and construction (Was the text dual-authored? Was it written rather than spoken? etc).
3. Appeal stage: Linguist help on wording, interpretation or authorship of a statement or confession made to police, as well as a new interpretation of a forensic text such as suicide note.
4. Does forensic linguistic covers all sort of crimes?
Covers both criminal cases and civil cases.
Criminal cases: All types of offense from murder to terrorism including all types of assault, robbery, burglary, fraud, drugs and alcohol cases, witness collusion, the authorship of suicide notes and many others.
Civil cases: Libel to breach of contract, civil fraud, forgery of wills, commercial plagiarism, adult influence in children's writing, employee harassment, interpretation of international statutes, copyright infringement and many others.
5. Branches related to Forensic Linguistics
Legal language - language that was used by the lawyers to plead their clients while drafting the contract.
Legal process - a process where a hearing took place.
Voice Identification (forensic phonetics) - determining the voice recorded indicates threats or otherwise.
Author Identification (forensic stylistics) - determining a particular text by comparing to the suspect writing samples.
Discourse Analysis - analyzing the structure of the written or the spoken words to determine the issues.
Linguistic Proficiency - the ability of the suspect to understand the police’s caution and questions
Dialectology - determining the dialect of the language of an individual speaks
"linguistic origin analysis“ - determining a person’s native language for granting or denying purposes.
"linguistic veracity analysis“ - determining whether the suspect is being truthful or not
6. Benefits of Forensic Linguistics
Robert A. Leonard stated that Forensic linguistics
- help solve and prevent crimes
Forensic linguistics’ students will be introduced and exposed to some of the key concepts in law.
Protect human’s rights (promote justice)
There is a forensic unit under the PDRM which will be in charged for crimes investigation in Malaysia.
However, there is no specific unit for forensic linguistics.
8. Universities offering Forensic Linguistics
In Malaysia, there are about 11 universities offers linguistics and very few universities offer forensic studies.
There are few universities outside Malaysia that offer Forensic Linguistics.
Among them are:
1) Cardiff University, Wales, U.K. (MA)
2) Hofstra University, New York , U.S. (MA)
3) Aston University, Birmingham, England (MA)
11 institutions Malaysia | offering Masters Degrees Linguistics courses. (n.d.). Retrieved December 02, 2017, from https://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/study/training-degrees/malaysia/masters/linguistics-courses/loc/114/slevel/57-3-3/cgory/l183/sin/ct/programs.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-forensic-linguistics-1690868
Blackwell, S. (2009). Why Forensic Linguistics Needs Corpus Linguistics. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.14746/cl.2009.01.01
Ramezani, F. et.al (2016). The Role of Forensic Linguistics in Crime Investigation. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/3573524/The_Role_of_Forensic_Linguistics_in_Crime_Investigation
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Eddy, S. (2011). 700 words on… forensic linguistics 1 | Studying Languages at University. Studyinglanguages.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2017, from http://www.studyinglanguages.ac.uk/student_voices/700_words/forensic_linguistics_1
Tiersma, P. (2012). Forensic Linguistics. Languageandlaw.org. Retrieved from http://www.languageandlaw.org/FORENSIC.HTM
Englische Sprachwissenschaft: Close Up - Forensic Linguistics. Anglistik.uni-wuerzburg.de. Retrieved from http://www.anglistik.uni-wuerzburg.de/abteilungen/englische-sprachwissenschaft/schwerpunkte/corpus-linguistics/close-up-forensic-linguistics/