The dictation and alteration of text

Abstract

The author proposes that dictation should be considered as a language mode or form distinct from both spoken discourse and written text and provides linguistic measurements in support. Also proposed are several tests to demonstrate the distribution of certain lexical and functional items in language: it is shown that when text is altered, these distributions can change. The above concepts are applied to a well known dictated statement, that allegedly made by Derek Bentley to the police in 1952. It is demonstrated that the probability of this text having been produced by the dictation of a single person is low.