Language as evidence: the linguist as expert witness in North American courts

Authors

  • Judith N. Levi

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.v1i1.1

Keywords:

Expert testimony, court, North America, linguistic evidence

Abstract

The purpose of this article is a simple one: to give a concise but informative picture of the breadth of linguistic expertise which has been introduced into legal cases through the use of expert testimony by professional linguists in the USA and Canada. Coverage of the relevant material is organized according to major subfields of linguistics, with brief explanations of each subfield provided for readers who are not already familiar with linguistics.

Author Biography

  • Judith N. Levi
    A theoretical linguist by training, Judith Levi is the author of The Syntax and Semantics of Complex Nominals (New York: Academic Press, 1978), and co-editor (with Anne Graffam Walker) of Language in the judicial Process (New York: Plenum, 1990). In the last decade her publications have focused on social science research on the role of language in legal processes and contexts, and on forensic linguistics. She has also served as a consultant or expert witness in over twenty legal cases both civil and criminal.

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Published

1994-06-01

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (1994)

Section

Articles

License

© Equinox Publishing Ltd.

For information regarding our Open Access policy, click here.

How to Cite

Levi, J. N. (1994). Language as evidence: the linguist as expert witness in North American courts. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, 1(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.v1i1.1