How linguists help solve language crimes
Just as criminals often leave behind DNA and fingerprints, they also
sometimes leave language evidence. Check out Natalie Schilling’s blog post for
Psychology Today to learn how linguists analyze linguistic fingerprints!
Here is a snippet from Natalie’s post…
“An anonymous bomb threat is phoned into a school. A lengthy manifesto inciting violence is posted online under a pseudonym. A series of texts is sent from a missing person’s phone, but the person never turns up. These are all cases involving language evidence.
“But how can evidence like this help police? Just as there are scientific experts in fields like anthropology or pathology who examine physical evidence, there are also language scientists who analyze language evidence.”
To read the full post on Psychology Today, click here.
