Language and the Law

Many aspects of legal proceedings and decisions rely on an understanding of linguistic principles and lingusitic usage. For example, an understanding of the fields of semantics and pragmatics is essential to determining when someone is committing perjury vs. just being misleading. (Linguists are thus often called upon to give expert witness testimony.). An analysis of syntax is often used in determining the authorship of ransom notes or other documents, and voice recognition tools of course rely on an understanding of phonetics and phonology. Attitudes towards different dialects often factor into jury decisions. These are just some of the ways that linguistics - both the study of the structure of language and the study of language as a social and communicative tool - interact with legal proceedings. This course will study those interactions via various case studies.