Table of Contents

Introduction. Part I: Language as Forensic Evidence 1. The road to authorship 2. The author constructed 3. Time, variation and genre 4. Range of variation 5. Textual Variation 6. Forensic phonetics 7. Cybercrime Part Two: Dealing with linguistic Evidence 8. Forensic texts 9. Forensic transcription 10. Forensic authorship in practice 11. Investigating author variation in naturalistic data 12. Forensic linguistic evidence in court Part Three: The legal process: Language and the law 13. Power in legal contexts: The courts 14. Power in legal contexts: The police 15. Vulnerable witnesses Part Four: Language of the law 16. The law and us 17. The language of statutes Appendix 1: Forensic texts Appendix 2: Exercises and exercise commentaries Appendix 3: Active researchers in the field of the forensic linguistics Bibliography Author Index Subject Index

Promotional Information

Covers the use of linguistics in analysing criminal evidence in legal settings - a vibrant and crucial subfield making important conclusions.

About the Author

John Olsson was a lecturer in Forensic Linguistics in both the School of Linguistics and the School of Law at Bangor University, Wales, and was head of the Forensic Linguistics Institute. Additionally, he taught forensic linguistics online. June Luchjenbroers is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Bangor University, Wales.

Reviews

[A]n extremely useful book for students and practitioners in a broad range of fields ... [including] law students, practising lawyers, students of applied linguistics, criminologists [and] police officers ... One of the strengths of the book is that real-life legal cases are referred to when illustrating theoretical points ... [A]n informative and accessible text.
*New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistics*

This book is vital reading for students and researchers of forensic linguistics and will undoubtedly help to cement interest in the field. It is stunningly comprehensive, addressing a generous range of forensic-related themes and issues: from cyber-terrorism to suicide notes. It takes in spoken, written and computer-mediated communication, examines, in detail, key studies and cases, and is written in a limpid and engaging style. The book also usefully includes a number of practical exercises and insightful commentaries which will prove invaluable to readers wishing to sharpen their forensic analytical sensibilities. This new edition of Forensic Linguistics is a joy to read, and I will be recommending it to all of my students interested in the interface between language and society.
*Kevin Harvey, Lecturer in Applied Sociolinguistics, University of Nottingham, UK*