Language as evidence
Analysis of utterance meaning, speech acts, and implicature in matters such as defamation, hate speech, threats, and fraud.
What is Forensic & Legal Linguistics
Forensic and legal linguistics studies where language and law meet: language as evidence, the language of the law itself, and language in legal processes.
Authorship analysis
Comparing stylistic features to assess who most likely wrote a text, and detecting plagiarism.
Forensic phonetics
Speaker comparison and identification from recordings, and preparation of defensible transcripts.
Legal language
The study of the language of legislation, contracts, and decisions: clarity, ambiguity, readability, and interpretation.
Language in legal processes
Interaction in police interviews and courtrooms, including the right to translators and interpreters for speakers of regional or foreign languages.
Trademark linguistics
Assessment of similarity in sound, form, and meaning between marks in trademark disputes.
The role of language experts in Indonesia
Under Indonesian criminal procedure, expert testimony is one of the recognised forms of evidence. Language experts are often asked to explain the meaning of an utterance or text, particularly in matters involving electronic information and transactions. Expert testimony helps the court understand the language data; deciding whether an act is proven remains the judge’s authority.
See example cases in the repository · Read the code of ethics