Linguistics is the scientific study of language, As an academic discipline it offers general studies in phonetics,phonology,phonotactics,morphophonemics,morphology,syntax or may include semantics,pragmatics or sociolinguistics. We can differentiate linguistics branches into pure linguistics and applied linguistics. Forensic linguistics is a relatively new branch of applied linguistics.
Forensics Linguistics: It is the application of linguistics knowledge to Forensic science to investigate both civil and criminal cases.
It covers the areas where language and law intersect , it has diverse applications in different areas.
Forensic linguistics has a major role in the interrogation questioning and investigation .
Forensics specialists who examines the spoken and written materials in the relation with the crime and legal matters are known as FORENSIC LINGUISTS
Forensic linguists study the case from the starting point of judicial proceedings i.e,from arrest to sentencing the punishment.
Forensic linguists have to understand the language of written law, complexities and origin of it and as well as forensic procedures.
Forensic linguistics can help to provide justice in various types of crime taking place in present scenario such as rape ,murder,drug dealings, random threads, kidnappings ,counter terrorism ,authorship disputes, documentation, text ,media and social media disputes.
Linguistics have close association with the law. Forensic Linguistics is helping police officials to identify the real motives and intentions of crimes through the detailed analysis of sounds or texts of suspect by applying Linguistics theories[1]
HISTORY OF FORENSIC LINGUISTICS :
The phrase “FORENSIC LINGUISTICS” was coined by JAN SVARTVIK in 1968.
In his book The Evans Statements: A Case for Forensic Linguistics[2]
JAN SVARTVIK re-analyzed the statement made by John Evans who was accused of a murder of his wife and his 13 months old daughter, by application of linguistics method to legal questioning he helped police officials to solve this case.
He is considered as the father of Forensic Linguistics.
From 1980 Forensic linguistics received the attention of linguists , Australian linguists discussed the application of linguistics and sociolinguistics in legal aspects .[2]
In 1993 , International Association of Forensic Linguistics was founded,
At present many universities and institutions are offering courses in the area of forensic linguistics.
In India , due to linguistic diversity and multilingual nature of our country it can provide wide scope for linguists .
FORENSIC LINGUISTICS IN JUDICIAL SYSTEMS :
Understanding the relationship between the concepts of language and law can help us in reaching a correct understanding of the role of linguists in legal and judicial systems. We need language in order to make and understand the law.[3] Language is the key in the legal system,
Legal Systems like issuing warrants, confessions in crimes, documentation of interrogation process in crimes, Suicidal note analysis etc have significant role in language data analysis[1]. Legal proceedings consist of three stages.
First stage is the Investigative stage,
Second stage is the Trial stage and
Third stage is the Appeal stage.
Linguistic analysis of language content includes detailed study of dialect variations, style of dialects, pronunciation, word order, selection of usages and phrases, syntactic variations, semantic style and pragmatic expressions.
In other words, language and law are interrelated with each other . In the twentieth century the linguists are giving more attention towards relating the law and language [3]
USE OF LINGUISTICS IN LEGAL and FORENSICS ASPECTS
● Author identification: The identification of whether a given individual said or wrote something relies on analysis of their idiolect, or particular patterns of language use (vocabulary, collocations, pronunciation, spelling, grammar)[3]
● Forensic stylistics : scientific analysis for determination and measurement of content, meaning, speaker identification, or determination of authorship, in identifying plagiarism[3].
● Discourse analysis: Discourse analysis deals with analyzing written, oral, or sign language use, or any significant semiotic event[3].
● Linguistic dialectology :study of dialects in a methodological manner based on anthropological information. It is becoming more important to conduct systematic studies of dialects, especially within the English language[3].
● Forensic phonetics :The forensic phonetician deals with the production of accurate transcriptions of what was being said. Transcriptions can reveal information about a speaker’s social and regional background. Forensic phonetics can determine similarities between the speakers of two or more separate recordings[3]
● Forensic transcription: The two main types of transcriptions are written documents and video and audio records. Accurate, reliable text transcription is important because the text is the data which becomes the available evidence[3].
● Variation : Intra-author variations are the ways in which one author’s texts differ from each other. Inter-author variations are the ways in which different authors’ writing varies. Two texts by one author do not necessarily vary less than texts by two different authors[3].
● Linguist proficiency
● Document examination
● Software examination
● Semiotics[3]
Scope of Forensic Linguistics India: linguistic diversity of our country and the multilingual nature of the country provide wide scope .Forensic Linguistics can modernize and sophisticate our investigation. In a country like India with 74% literacy, practice of linguistic technique to check the accuracy of the documentation of the statements of accused, and witness will enhance the Right to Fair Trial as mentioned under Article 21 of the constitution. The Section 277 in The Code of Criminal Procedure categorically ensures the access of trial in the language of the accused. There, the role of Forensic Linguistic is primordial in India. Use of 22 scheduled languages in the judiciary necessitates the role of Forensic linguistics in the interpretation and accuracy of law[4]. The scope of Forensic Linguistics in relation to investigation, trial and interpretation of law is exceptionally important in Indian situation[4]. But no effort has been reported so far to build the capacity building among the linguist to assist the investigation agencies or court related language of law and Forensic linguistics.[4]
Case study:
Case : 1
Mr. Selvaraj is a policeman in the Railway Protection Force stationed at Thanjavur. He was arrested when Rs.13000 worth of counterfeit notes were found in the amount of Rs. 30000 which was deposited in the ICICI bank, in Chennai on 24th August 2012. He was also possessing Rs. 5000 worth counterfeit notes in his suitcase. He made a statement in front of the police after his arrest.
In his statement, the accused had revealed the following details:
“I used to come to Chennai from Thanjavur once a week bringing a post for the IG Office of the Railway Protection Force in Chennai. Whenever I come to Chennai, I used to stay in the house of an inspector who is my relative. On these occasions I used to go for gambling in Annanagar. I used to win the games. The counterfeit notes were there in that money, I won.” (Thinathanthi 27-8-2012)
The phrase “I used to go for gambling”gave a clue to the police to find out the other culprits also.
Since the accused has mentioned the place from where the counterfeit notes were received by him, the Police could map out the path of the crime and arrest all the persons mentioned by the accused except the leader of the gang who is still at large. Though the policeman has not mentioned the name of the Inspector in whose house he used to stay as a partner, police have some doubt about the Inspector too. He was yet to be enquired/arrested.
Case :2
Mr. Natarajan of Namakkal in Tamilnadu, working as an Assistant Professor in a private college in Padappai Chennai, had murdered his wife, Mrs. Vijayalakshmi, since she came to know about his illegal affair with another woman who was his student. After her murder, he made a complaint to the police that his wife Vijayalakshmi was missing.
In his complaint there was a sentence; engu teeDinaalum kiDaikka maaTTaaL.
‘She will not be found, even if searched everywhere.’
This gave the clue to doubt him.
The sentence can be interpreted as ‘I know that you may not be able to find her since something has happened to her, which I know.’ The police set up a trap to arrest him. Knowing that he would be arrested, he surrendered before the Court in Namakkal town in Tamilnadu, his native place. Natarajan confessed to the murder. The confession was made in the presence of police officers on 16 July 2012 by the accused Natarajan,in his native place for murdering his wife Vijayalakshmi.[5]
“A few years back I was studying ME in a private college in Maduravoyal (Chennai). During that time I started loving a girl from Bangalore. I used to go to Bangalore to meet her often. Later after my studies I joined as a lecturer in a private college in Parivakkam, near Poonthamalli
(Chennai). I was staying in a house with my friends. I had introduced the girl from Bangalore telling them that I would be marrying her. But last year when I went to my native place, I was forced to marry Vijayalakshmi (the deceased) because of the compulsion by my parents. But I did not tell this information to my friends and the Bangalore girl. After that I got an appointment in a college in Padappai (Chennai). My love (the Bangalore girl) used to visit all these places. One day, my wife came to my college and asked for me, telling all she was my wife. But they have told her that another woman is his wife and they were also confused. Getting angry at my deeds, my wife went back to her parent’s house in Namakkal. From then onwards we started quarrelling. Since she came to know about my illegal relationship with another girl, she might be an interference to my affairs, I planned to murder her. Last month (June 12) I asked her to come over here (Chennai) alone to go to Salem for the marriage of my friend. Believing my words, she got Rs 400 from her parents and came to Thambaram (Chennai) on 6th June. I had already bought a new phone and a SIM card and gave it to her to talk to me only, so that I will not be doubted and should not be caught for the murder (which I had planned). But I didn’t know that she was using the new SIM in her old cell phone only. I didn’t know this. I took her, who was waiting in Thambaram, to my house. I was talking to her very closely. Without knowing that she would be murdered within some minutes, she was talking to me very happily. Even before that I had already kept a spade and crow bar secretly near the Krishna canal near my house. If I murder her in the house she may raise voice and I would be caught, hence at about 12 O’clock in the night, I asked her to come for a walk to get fresh air and I only murdered her by slitting her neck and stabbing her in the chest. She died immediately. I had buried her body in a pit which I had already dug on the Krishna canal bed near Celliamman temple in Kattupakkam. I dropped a stone also on her face so that none can identify her face. I had broken the cell phone and the SIM card and threw them away. I thought she would be using the new phone , unfortunately, she had used the old phone and hence I was caught.”
With the confession made by the accused, the Police could trace the whole incident and since the incident had happened a month ago, police recovered the body for post mortem.
The confession made the task easy in getting all the essential information. In the confession, he has repeatedly used the first person pronoun ‘I’ several times , while describing how he had murdered his wife. Further, ‘I only’ was intentionally used in the confession made so that the police may not doubt anybody else. But this has given a clue that there may be somebody else also. Finally, the police arrested his girlfriend who was also with him when the murder took place.[5]
REFERENCES:
[1].Dr.SYAM SK,(2018).Aspects of Forensic Linguistics,Language in India,18.
http://www.languageinindia.com/dec2018/drsyamforensiclinguisticspolicing.pdf
[2]Ariaini,Sajedi,(2015).Forensic linguistics: A brief overview of the key elements,Elsevier ltd,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814061710
[3]RAMEZANI,(2015).Forensic Linguistics in the Light of Crime Investigation,PERTANIKA JOURNAL,2
[4]Dr.S(2018 .JAN.1).A Note on Forensic Linguistics in India,DLA News Vol 42 https://www.academia.edu/36172185/A_Note_on_Forensic_Linguistics_in_India
[5] N.Vijayan(2013.MAY.5)An Analysis of Statements and Confessions in Forensic Linguistics,LANGUAGE IN INDIA,VOL 13.
