What does your way of writing and speaking say about you?

By group 5

Whenever you speak, write, or perform any activity in which language is involved, you are showing aspects of your personality and character that can tell a lot about yourself. These characteristics are usually not that evident for the majority of the people we communicate with, but they can be easily identified by the trained senses of an expert. This is what forensic linguists do, they analyze any kind of written or spoken evidence that can help lead the trail to identify a potential criminal. Therefore, forensic linguistics consist of a crucial part in many legal procedures, since their application can prove to be the key element to identify a culprit, therefore solving a case that otherwise might have been much more difficult to handle.

Forensic linguistics is a branch of applied linguistics that connects language with Law. It is the application of linguistics to legal issues, and has to do with the usage of linguistic expertise, approaches and insights to the forensic perspective of the law, language, criminal investigation and court procedure. There are three main areas in which forensic linguistics work:

Understanding the legal, written language of law
- Understanding how language is used in forensic and legal procedures
- The provision of linguistic evidence

When it comes to the language of legal texts, any text or item of spoken language can be used and analyzed by forensic linguistics in a legal or criminal context. This includes the analysis of a diversity of linguistic documents, such as Acts of Parliament, private wills, court judgments, etc.

In the area of the language of legal procedures, language is examined in cross-examinations, evidence presentation, judge’s direction, police cautions, police testimonies in court, questioning processes in court, among other areas.

Then we have the area of the provision of linguistic evidence, which means that forensic linguistics are able to provide evidence in a wide range of situations, such as the identification of the author of written anonymous texts (like threat letters, emails or mobile phone texts), voice identification, also known as forensic phonetics, to determine if the voice on a recorded audio is that of the defendant, and others like discourse analysis, which is the analysis of the structure of written or spoken utterances to determine aspects such as whether a suspect is agreeing to engage in criminal conspiracy.

“Any statement you make can be used against you in a court of law”

There are two main fields in forensic linguistics application, those are juridical texts and legal proceedings. Now we are to mention those two briefly and specify the different types of texts, in which forensic linguistics is applied.

- Juridical texts:

Any text can be a potential forensic evidence. This area analyses the linguistic aspects of the documents. For example, the way in some letters are constructed shows aspects of the author´s behavior, and in the moment that forensic linguistics starts to find similar aspects in the sentences or predicates, they can make comparisons between previous letters or draw out the significant aspects in order to be compared later.

- Legal proceedings:

Legal proceedings refer to testimonies, cross-examinations, interviews, the manner of speaking the witness in a trial, the words of the judge, the jury and other aspects that involve the study of language and the ways of speaking. In this way, using simple aspects like voice tone, stutter and word repetitions can lead to find contradictions in the statements, or know if the person speaking is a reliable witness or not.

In fact, there is a specific “trick” that defense attorneys and prosecutors teach to their clients and witnesses, this “trick” is commonly used in trials and police interrogations. First, keep looking at the interrogator and blink from time to time, in this way you can give a sensation of security. It is said that people who stare directly without blinking normally, or people who never look straight in the eyes are potentials liars. Secondly, relax your body in a comfortable posture. Being uncomfortable can be interpreted as nervousness and even as the necessity of hiding something from the police. Finally, this is the most important part, keep your answers short and, if it is not necessary, do not give a lot of information. Unnecessary excuses can be dangerous, because they give space for more questions and interrogations, as the following example:

“- Where were you X day of September at X time?

- I was with Elvis in the bar, drinking beers and talking with a couple of well-looking ladies, but he had to go at 10 o'clock because he had things to do at home.

- Really? << killing look >> Elvis testified that when the clock struck 8, he had already left the bar, because he going to have practice the next morning… giving you enough time to commit the murder.”

In this example the linguistic factors are very important. A wrong statement or sentences strangely well done, can be interpreted as previously planned or invented.

Types of forensic texts:

• Emergency call

• Threats

• Suicide letters

• Declarations of condemned to death

One of the most emblematic cases involving forensic linguistics is the one of the “mad bomber”, who for 16 years planted bombs in different parts of New York.

The police managed to discover the identity of this man through the analysis of the letters he sent whenever he settled an explosive device. Remarkably, in all messages he referred to the electric company Con-Edison with feelings of resentment and guilt. Furthermore, he always signed his letters with the initials "F.P.", which meant "Fair Play".

Due to his constant terrorist attacks, the police contracted a psychiatrist named Brussel, so he could determine the offender’s profile. Brussel analyzed the letter’s writing and, due its meticulousness, he concluded that the “mad bomber” had obsessive behaviors. The psychiatrist also deduced his education and nationality by the vocabulary and content of the letters, because in them there were rarely used English words and the writing was like that of a translation. The psychiatrist was even able to predict the way the criminal was dressed when he was arrested by the police.

This is an extract of the mad bomber's profile:

Single man, between 40 and 50 years old, introvert. Unsocial but not anti-social. Skilled mechanic. Cunning. Neat with tools. Egotistical of mechanical skill. Contemptuous of other people. Resentful of criticism of his work but probably conceals resentment. Moral. Honest. Not interested in women. High school graduate. Expert in civil or military ordnance. Religious. Might flare up violently at work when criticized. Possible motive: discharge or reprimand. Feels superior to critics. Resentment keeps growing. Present or former Consolidated Edison worker. Probably case of progressive paranoia. (Brussel, 1968; cited by Wrightsman, 2001).

In 1957, the police managed to catch the culprit, and this was a man of 54 year old, named George Metesky. He had been working for the company Con-Edison for around 16 years, but he was fired. Besides, he was of Polish origin, unmarried and he lived with his two older sisters. It all was just as Brussel predicted it. Finally, he was admitted into a psychiatric hospital for 16 years due to progressive paranoia.

As you can see, forensic linguistics constitutes a greatly important part of legal procedures. By the analysis of language, through spoken or written evidence, this field of linguistics can help identify potential criminals, thus accelerating the legal process and even preventing further crimes. Thanks to the psychological techniques used in forensic linguistics, we can look deeper into the criminals' minds and understand the human psyche in a more profound way, which has proved to be an essential element in the forensics.

So, what do you think of forensic linguistics? What do you think of its importance in forensics? What do you think your own actions and writing would say about you?

If you want to know more about this kind of analyses, in the following link you can find a graphology test. We encourage you to take the time to do it, and if you want you can share your results with us!

Handwriting analysis