An Introduction to Forensic Phonetics and Forensic Linguistics

by Adrian Leemann, Ria Perkins, Grace Sullivan Buker, Paul Foulkes

Overview

This textbook provides a practical introduction to the fields of forensic phonetics and forensic linguistics. Addressing how these fields are both distinct yet closely related, the book demonstrates how experts from both fields can work together to investigate and deliver justice in complex legal situations.

With pedagogical features including real-life case studies, exercises, and links to further reading, topics covered include:

• Profiling from spoken and written texts
• Disputed meaning, and how meaning is made and evolves
• Interviewing techniques, including working around those who might be considered linguistically vulnerable
• Author and speaker determination
• Audio enhancement and authentication of recordings
• Language analysis in the asylum procedure (LAAP)

Accompanied by online audio and video resources as well as signposting readers to freely available software to aid their studies, this book is the ideal springboard for students beginning work in forensic phonetics, forensic speech science, forensic linguistics, and law and language.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367616588
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/17/2024
Series:	Learning about Language
Pages:	324
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Adrian Leemann is Professor of German Sociolinguistics at the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Ria Perkins works as a civil servant for the Ministry of Defence, and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics in Birmingham, UK.

Grace Sullivan Buker is a Lecturer in Forensic Linguistics and Cross-Cultural Communication at Northeastern University, USA.

Paul Foulkes is Professor of Linguistics and Phonetics at the University of York, UK.

Table of Contents

About the authors

Acknowledgments

Copyright credits

Chapter 1: Introduction to the book

Chapter 2: Introduction to phonetic analysis

Chapter 3: Speaker profiling

Chapter 4: Speaker comparison

Chapter 5: Earwitness evidence

Chapter 6: Authentication, enhancement, and speech content determination

Chapter 7: Linguistic analysis in the asylum procedure (LAAP)

Chapter 8: Grounding theory – Introduction to linguistic analysis

Chapter 9: Language and meaning

Chapter 10: Language of the judicial process

Chapter 11: Authorship profiling

Chapter 12: Comparative authorship analysis

Chapter 13: Expert witnesses

Index

Editorial Reviews

"An Introduction to Forensic Phonetics and Forensic Linguistics is an authoritative and timely introduction to the use of linguistic science in the courtroom, providing the theoretical background and a practical discussion of the intricacies of speaker identification, earwitness accuracy, dialect variation, and other evidentiary issues. This book will be of value to experts in the fields of linguistics and phonetics, as a guide to solid forensic practices, and also to those present in the courtroom, as a caution against inferring greater reliability than an expert has claimed. Academics in these fields have been waiting for years for a book of this calibre to appear."

Sandra Ferrari Disner, University of Southern California, USA

"This is a well-designed textbook covering a wide range of topics in an engaging and accessible way, with interesting case-studies and plenty of exercises - all with suggested answers. It offers a valuable way to set beginners up to delve more deeply into the legal and scientific challenges of using language as forensic evidence. Highly recommended, not just for classes but for anyone with a general interest in forensic phonetics and linguistics."

Prof. Helen Fraser - Director, Research Hub for Language in Forensic Evidence, University of Melbourne

From the Publisher