LING-L210 Topics in Linguistics: Word Crime: Language as
Forensic Linguistics
To be tentatively scheduled for MWF 1:25-2:15 p.m.,
location TBA
Sometimes a smoking gun can identify a criminal;
sometimes it's the way he or she talks. For instance, the Unabomber was
identified when his family recognized key phrases that he repeatedly used in
his writings.
In this course we will examine a variety of ways in which
language and speech analysis is used in the courtroom and related arenas to
identify criminals, settle company trademark disputes, and spot plagiarism.
Additional forensic applications will also be addressed,
such as how the CIA could attempt to identify Osama bin Laden's voice on
post-9-11 audiotapes, or how a killer was caught by his text messages. How does
this look?
