Linguistics and the Law : An Introduction to the Forensic Applications of Phonetics and Phonology

The purpose of this paper is to introduce to the reader some of the ways in which one or more of the sub-fields of linguistics are used for legal purposes, such as helping to identify a viable suspect in a bombing attempt, how to determine whose voice actually made a violent threat and how to legally determine the appropriateness of a new product name. It is my hope that such an introduction will encourage readers, particularly the students among us, to see that there are many interesting applications of the principles of linguistics that extend beyond the usual areas of usage (such as for language education, speech therapy and voice training). In this paper, then, I conduct a brief survey of some of the ways in which linguistics has been used for forensic applications.