sociolinguistic and law

Sociolinguistic and Law

Presented byMd Syed Ahamad

Sociolinguistic and law 1

EDWARD FINEGAN

Reference• Handbook of Sociolinguistics, 1998

• Edited by Florian Coulmas• Wikipedia


Outline• Sociolinguistic Applications in Forensic Settings

• Dialectology• Discourse

• Conclusion – Sociolinguistic and Law• Language experts and ethics


Dialectology• A dialect – shared speech characteristics of a social

group.• Ash, a sociolinguist familiar with the phidalphia

speech community demonstrated that the change in vowel quality in their dialect is difficult in trying to disguise their voices.


Dialectology• Labov’s Acoustic analysis of the vowels in the

words bomb, there, off, and on ( “There's gonna be a bomb going off on the flight to LA”).

• The intervention of a skilled language analyst can lead to a recognition that a defendant is not a likely perpetrator.


Discourse• Definition – the study of language use.

• Structure – A particular unit of language.• Function – A particular focus on language use.

• A unit which looks like a sentence but doesn’t mean anything• e.g. Colourless green ideas sleep furiously

• The units in which people speak do not always look like sentences.• e.g. I mean, huh! It’s not like that……


Shuy Issues• First issue – challenge of making accurate

transcriptions.• Prince Analysis

• (a) lines represent FBI transcriptions, the (b) lines transcriptions made by Prince herself.

• T-tape carrier, D-the target and eventual defender.• Capital letter – heavy stress• Bracket – time length of silence.

Continue….


First Issue• 1 (a) T: … I don't know whether he said he

followed him or they followed him when he left there. I don't know.

• (b) T: … I don't know whether he said HE followed THEM or THEY followed HIM when he left there. [4 sec] D: They can't HAVE anything. T: I don't know.

• 2 (a) D: Jesus Christ – that's a shame. I don't know what the hell to do.

• (b) D: Jesus Christ. [5 sec] That's a shame. [3 sec] I don't know what the hell to tell you.


Second Issue• Second issue – interpretations of conversational exchanges

• Linguists analyse how people talk and not just what they speak.

• e.g. That’s not what I mean!

• Labov’s observer Paradox - “our goal is to observe how people use language when they are not being observed.”


Second Issue• Group Discussion

• Topic analysis – who raised which topics and how often.

• Response Analysis to a given topic(changing it, postponing it).

• Labov’s observer Paradox• Shuy notes “The way a person selects from among

these options gives clues to that person's concerns, interests, and intentions.”


ConclusionLanguage experts and ethics


Problem• Sociolinguists who serve as consultants and expert

witnesses inevitably face ethical challenges.• Language experts face exceptional challenges when

participating in a vigorously adversarial system.

• Awkward situation and many others.


Solution• Fenagan’s guidelines –

• Don't allow yourself to assume that an attorney retaining your expertise has told you all that he or she could reveal about the case;

• Distinguish between your roles as expert and consultant;

• Be aware that another expert may be providing opposing counsel with critiques of your analysis.

• No emotions but the truth!!


Thank You
