The distinction between the forensic linguist activity and scientific activity of linguist analyst: competencies, methods and technologies

Abstract

Forensic linguistic expertise is one of the most intensively and extensively developing areas of forensic activity. The profession of forensic linguist has gained exceptional popularity in recent years in Russia due to the high demand in the market of expert services. Forensic linguistic expertise has entered a new phase, where its theoretical achievements and practices are critically reviewed by the law enforcement. Expert linguists’ reports are analyzed based on the linguist’s competence, qualification and professional skills. The purpose of this paper was an attempt to separate the legal sphere of forensic expert activity from the analytical sphere of the linguist-analyst. The author believes that a modern highly qualified linguist working in the field of forensic activities must have dual competence: have knowledge in both linguistics and jurisprudence (forensic expertology) and be able to efficiently apply expert linguistic methods in legal proceedings. Practical activities in the field of forensic linguistic expertise are scientifically based and build on achievements in a number of scientific domains, including linguistics, semiotics, forensic speech, forensic expertise, criminology and other legal sciences. But forensic experts and expert institutions apply all these achievements, methods and means not to discover new linguistic facts, create a theory, or test scientific hypotheses, but to gain evidence in criminal and civil cases. The activity of the forensic linguist, though similar to scientific linguistic research, differs from it by a number of essential features inherent in practical activities. The forensic linguist uses the same methods as in scientific research in full conformity to the requirements of legality, ethical standards, principles of forensic activity, and rules of evidence collection and handling.