NCJ Number
194602
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 71 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2002 Pages: 16-21
Date Published
April 2002
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the types of information that can be obtained from an offender's written or spoken language.
Abstract
Both written and spoken language have features that may reveal an individual's geographical origins; ethnicity or race; age; sex; and occupation, educational level, and religious orientation or background. Sociolinguistics is the study of language variability, including the relationships between social characteristics and linguistic features. Although Americans tend to move frequently, their speech often retains characteristics of the regional dialect of the area where they were reared. Also, native ethnic groups as well as immigrants from various countries, may retain aspects of their native language. Further, different generations have linguistic ways of expressing themselves. Gender also tends to influence the language patterns and the topics discussed. Women tend to talk more about feelings. Types of cases likely to require the use of forensic psycholinguistics include threat assessment, authorship identification, false allegations, workplace violence, and statement analysis. Potential applications include the analysis of apparent suicide notes to determine their authenticity and the analysis of computer codes used by criminals in the execution of their crimes. 9 notes