From the accusation of plagiarism in The Da Vinci Code, to the infamous hoaxer in the Yorkshire Ripper case, the use of linguistic evidence in court and the number of linguists called to act as expert witnesses in court trials has increased rapidly in the past fifteen years. An Introduction to Forensic Linguistics: Language in Evidence provides a timely and accessible introduction to this rapidly expanding subject. Using knowledge and experience gained in legal settings – Malcolm Coulthard in his work as an expert witness and Alison Johnson in her work as a West Midlands police officer – the two authors combine an array of perspectives into a distinctly unified textbook, focusing throughout on evidence from real and often high profile cases including serial killer Harold Shipman, the Bridgewater Four and the Birmingham Six. Divided into two sections, 'The Language of the Legal Process' and 'Language as Evidence', the book covers the key topics of the field. The first section looks at legal language, the structures of legal genres and the collection and testing of evidence from the initial police interview through to examination and cross-examination in the courtroom. The second section focuses on the role of the forensic linguist, the forensic phonetician and the document examiner, as well as examining in detail the linguistic investigation of authorship and plagiarism. With research tasks, suggested reading and website references provided at the end of each chapter, An Introduction to Forensic Linguistics: Language in Evidence is the essential textbook for courses in forensic linguistics and language of the law.

The Routledge Handbook of Forensic Linguistics provides a unique work of reference to the leading ideas, debates, topics, approaches and methodologies in Forensic Linguistics. Forensic Linguistics is the study of language and the law, covering topics from legal language and courtroom discourse to plagiarism. It looks at the linguist as expert providing evidence for the defence and prosecution, investigating areas from blackmail to trademarks and warning labels. The Routledge Handbook of Forensic Linguistics includes a comprehensive introduction to the field written by the editors and a collection of thirty-seven original chapters written by the world’s leading academics and professionals, both established and up-and-coming, designed to equip a new generation of students and researchers to carry out forensic linguistic research and analysis. The Routledge Handbook of Forensic Linguistics is the ideal resource for undergraduates or postgraduates new to the area. Malcolm Coulthard is Professor of Forensic Linguistics at Aston University, UK. Author of numerous publications, the most recent being An Introduction to Forensic Linguistics (co-authored with Alison Johnson, Routledge, 2007). Alison Johnson is Lecturer in Modern English Language at Leeds University, UK. Previous publications include An Introduction to Forensic Linguistics (co-authored with Malcolm Coulthard, Routledge, 2007). Contributors: Janet Ainsworth, Michelle Aldridge, Dawn Archer, Kelly Benneworth, Vijay Bhatia, Ronald R. Butters, Deborah Cao, Malcolm Coulthard, Paul Drew and Traci Walker, Bethany Dumas, Diana Eades, Susan Ehrlich, Fiona English, Tim Grant, Peter Gray, Gillian Grebler, Mel Greenlee, Sandra Beatriz Hale, Chris Heffer, Elizabeth Holt and Alison Johnson, Kate Howarth, Michael Jessen, Krzystof Kredens and Ruth Morris, Greg Matoesian, Gerald McMenamin, Frances Rock, Laura Felton Rosulek, Nancy Schweda-Nicholson, Roger Shuy, Lawrence Solan, Elizabeth Stokoe and Derek Edwards, Peter Tiersma, Tatiana Tkaèuková, David Walsh and Ray Bull, David Woolls, and Jerome Bruner.

Dedicated to Malcom Coulthard, this collection of specially commissioned works is a showcase for the most exciting developments in applied dicourse studies. It contains new research on descriptions forensic linguistics, gender and literary studies.

The central concern of this book is the analysis of verbal interaction or discourse. This first six chapters report and evaluate major theoretical advances in the description of discourse. The final chapters demonstrate how the findings of discourse analysis can be used to investigate second-language teaching and first-language acquisition and to analyse literary texts.

This collection brings together for the first time in a single volume many of the major figures in contemporary discourse studies. Each chapter is an original contribution which has been specifically commissioned for this book, and together they document the wide range of concerns and techniques which characterise the discipline at the turn of the century. Discourse and Social Life is concerned with a variety of different types of data - talk, text and interaction - and covers research sites which range from the home setting through the health care setting and the courtroom to the public sphere. The book not only provides a critical, historical overview of different traditions of discourse analysis, but also projects to some extent the possible developments of this field of study, as other allied disciplines (Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Rhetoric and Communication Studies) are taking a discursive turn. Readers are invited to draw parallels between these different approaches to studying discourse in its social context. The contributors are- Sally Candlin, Malcolm Coulthard, Justine Coupland, Nikolas Coupland, Norman Fairclough, Ruqaiya Hasan, Robert Kaplan, Geoff Leech, Yon Maley, Greg Myers, Celia Roberts, Srikant Sarangi, Ron Scollon, Theo van Leeuwen, Henry Widdowson and Ruth Wodak.

Overview of the interface of language and the law, illustrated with authentic data and contemporary case studies. Topics include collection of evidence, discourse, courtroom interaction, legal language, comprehension and forensic phonetics.