Linguistic expert examination as a research genre

Abstract

Unlike regular linguistic studies that offer the researcher a free choice of research objects, tasks, and targets, linguistic expert examination (also called forensic linguistics examination) is limited by a number of requirements ensuing from the mixed linguo-juridical nature of the genre. The major peculiarities of forensic linguistics research are as follows:

• The research is not initiated by the researcher himself;

• The research object and the questions under investigation are determined by the court of justice or the attorney;

• The methods must have a sufficient amount of approbation;

• The time frame for the research is limited by juridical requirements.

It is important that the formulation of the questions under investigation does not transgress the limits of linguistic competence. If for one reason or another they do, the expert may not edit the question at his own discretion. He should elucidate the part of the question that corresponds to the linguistic qualification and explain why he cannot answer the aspects of the question that are beyond the limits of his competence.

 

The paper gives an overview of the major types of forensic linguistics research performed by the experts of the Ukrainian Bureau for Linguistic Expert Examination (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) over the recent decade. These types are as follows:

 

1. Expert examination of disputed juridical documents;

    

2. Expert examination in cases of protection of personal dignity and business reputation;

    

3. Expert examination of appeals to illegal actions and violence, and expert examination in cases of stirring up interethnic hostility;

    

4. Expert examination in cases of threats and blackmail, and expert examination of dialogical texts (recordings of spontaneous speech, SMS messages, interrogation reports, etc.);

5. Expert examination of translations;

6. Expert examination of the documentary records of personal names, place names, and other proper names;

7. Expert examination in cases of protection of registered trademarks.

It is argued that a combination of semantic, structural, and linguopragmatic approaches is a solid methodological foundation for competent expert investigations serving as evidence in legal proceedings.