LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 23:8 August 2023
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

Celebrate India!
Unity in Diversity!!

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

Poetic Encounter
Available in https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09TT86S4T

Poems
Naked: the honest browsings of two brown women
Available in https://www.amazon.in

Decrees
Available in https://www.amazon.com

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2023
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

Evaluating and Accessing the Scope of Forensic Linguistics in a
Multilingual Context in India

Ravina Toppo, Research Scholar and
Sweta Sinha, Associate Professor

Abstract

Forensic linguistics involves the scientific examination of language as evidence in criminal investigations, gaining global importance. However, in India, this field is relatively new and needs substantial research and development. This paper provides an overview of forensic linguistics, discussing its historical development, practices, and advances worldwide. It highlights current issues and scope in the multilingual context, underscoring the potential applications in criminal investigations, the judiciary, and the need for interdisciplinary collaborations. It emphasizes the need for a speech database to support research in forensic linguistics. It discusses the use of English within the legal domain and highlights the necessity of conducting research on courtroom proceedings and legal writing. It proposes the translation of Court judgments into regional languages to eliminate language barriers and increase transparency in the judicial system. It charts the future direction for forensic linguistics in India, urging investment in research and development to promote this emerging field.

Keywords: English, forensic linguistics, India, legal language, multilingualism

1. Introduction

When Islamic State terrorists released the video of the beheading of journalist James Foley, linguists from all over the world tried to identify the masked terrorist known as Jihadi John by analyzing his voice. In 2014, The Guardian quoted phonetician Paul Kerswill, saying that the man’s accent was Multicultural London English, possibly with a foreign language background (Chulov & Halliday, 2014). Later, in 2015, The Washington Post identified that the man was born in Kuwait and grew up in West London. According to the documents released by Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency has analyzed and extracted the contents of millions of telephone conversations. The use of forensic linguistics has started to feature prominently in intelligence investigations. Forensic linguistics is the application of linguistics for criminal investigations and judicial procedures. Forensic linguistics is the study of written or spoken language for legal issues. Spoken or written language is analyzed for investigative purposes with the goal that it very well may be presented as evidence in the courtroom. According to Coulthard et al. (2011), forensic linguistics involves the application of linguistics in three main areas, which include analyzing written legal texts, spoken legal practices, providing evidence in criminal and civil investigations, and courtroom disputes. It is the interface between linguistics and the law. Olsson (2008) describes forensic linguistics as the application of linguistics to legal purposes. It is the implementation of linguistic knowledge in legal cases or proceedings. It is a new subfield of applied linguistics that studies the various crossways between language and legal subjects, which is heavily linguistic by nature. Though the usage of language is central to life, it is relatively a newcomer to the arena of forensic sciences.

Forensic linguistics is the application of linguistic theories to legal issues. These linguistic theories are applied to analyze a language/speech sample for investigation. It is a branch of applied linguistics where linguistic knowledge, methodologies, and analysis are applied to forensic and criminal settings. It implements linguistic knowledge and techniques to the language associated with a legal or criminal context.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Ravina Toppo
Research Scholar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Patna, India, 801106
ravina.toppo@gmail.com/ 1821hs04@iitp.ac.in

Sweta Sinha Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Patna, India, 801106
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.