علم اللغة الجنائي : نشأته و تطورة و تطبيقاته

Abstract EN

This paper aims to provide a general overview of the growing field of forensic linguistics and identify its role in both solving crimes and absolving people wrongly accused of committing crimes.

The paper begins by defining forensic linguistics as the use of linguistic techniques to investigate crimes in which language data constitute part or all of the evidence.

A brief history of the field shows that the use of language as a forensic tool dates back to the time of the Bible.

However, forensic linguistics has emerged as a discipline quite recently.

Since its emergence in 1980s, forensic linguistics has grown rapidly, developed its techniques and gained progressively more acceptance in the judicial systems of many advanced countries.

At the moment, a forensic linguist may be called upon to report on a number of varied areas including speaker identification, author identification, discourse analysis, dialect analysis, legal language analysis and linguistic veracity.

The paper predicts in conclussion that the future of forensic linguistics will be bright if linguists work on acquiring skills, knowledge and qualifications in other related disciplines such as law.

This will prepare them for working in and with courts.

It is also predicted that advancement in electronic voice recording and analysis is bound to lend forensic linguistics greater credibility and eventual acceptance in various judicial systems.