https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0837-4915
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Abstract
Forensic linguistics is a distinct field of study in the science of language that places significant emphasis on the observation of language usage in our daily lives, including spoken and written language, listening, and reading. This focus on language usage provides a legal perspective for the analysis of language. Initially, forensic linguistics was confined to the identification of spoken and written documents in legal settings, police language, and prison language; however, the field has expanded to include speech detection, text detection, plagiarism detection, social media verbal violence detection, social security detection, and discrimination detection. In this study, we examined the development of forensic linguistics through the use of knowledge maps. We conducted a scientometric analysis of 6,490 triangulated documents from three major knowledge databases (Scopus, WOS, and Lens) that were published between 1936 and 2022. The development of forensic linguistics was measured using eight bibliometric indicators and eight scientometric indicators, and we used CiteSpace 5.8.R3 and VOSviewer 1.6.18 software packages to create knowledge maps and tabulations. Our major findings include the identification of commonly used keywords in forensic linguistics, such as human, linguistics, legal translation, language, speech recognition, legal language, authorship attribution, and natural language processing system. Additionally, the following terms were observed to be synonymous with forensic linguistics: linguistic law, language policy, language and law, official language, legal translation, linguistic rights, and legal linguistics. Our scientometric analysis allowed us to group the 6,460 documents in forensic linguistics into various clusters based on research patterns in the field, such as the role of forensic linguists in legal contexts, legal translation, legal composition, forensic voice comparison, authorship attribution, and human language technologies. Other clusters included the use of forensic linguistics in police interview settings, public service and courtroom settings, linguistic rights, as well as online debate. The study has implications for researchers, writers, public speakers, YouTubers, and all social media users, TV reporters, news reporters, and media professionals. In contemporary society, there is a rapid proliferation of ignorance concerning copyrights and the rights of others. Therefore, it is crucial to raise awareness among the general public about these rights.
Highlights
Forensic linguistics is a unique field of study that emphasizes the observation of language usage in our daily lives, providing a legal perspective for the analysis of language.
The scope of forensic linguistics has expanded to include speech detection, text detection, plagiarism detection, social media verbal violence detection, social security detection, and discrimination detection.
A scientometric analysis of 6,490 triangulated documents from major knowledge databases was conducted to examine the development of forensic linguistics.
The study identified commonly used keywords in forensic linguistics and grouped the 6,460 documents into various clusters based on research patterns in the field. These clusters included the role of forensic linguists in legal contexts, legal translation, forensic voice comparison, authorship attribution, and human language technologies.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Data availability statement
The data presented in this study are included in the paper.
Contribution statement
Conceptualization, Ahmed Alduais, Mohammed Al-Khulaidi, Silvia Allegretta and Mona Abdulkhalek; Data curation, Ahmed Alduais; Formal analysis, Ahmed Alduais; Investigation, Ahmed Alduais; Methodology, Ahmed Alduais and Silvia Allegretta; Project administration, Ahmed Alduais; Resources, Mohammed Al-Khulaidi and Mona Abdulkhalek; Software, Ahmed Alduais; Supervision, Ahmed Alduais; Validation, Ahmed Alduais; Visualization, Ahmed Alduais; Writing—original draft, Ahmed Alduais, Mohammed Al-Khulaidi, Silvia Allegretta and Mona Abdulkhalek; Writing—review & editing, Ahmed Alduais.
Institutional review board statement
This research did not require IRB approval.
Informed consent statement
Neither human nor non-human subjects were involved directly in this research. Therefore, informed consent was not required.
Correction
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
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Funding
Notes on contributors
Ahmed Alduais
Dr. Alduais is an Assistant Professor of Child Psychology and Clinical Linguistics at the University of Verona, Italy. With a strong passion for interdisciplinary language sciences, he explores fields such as neuroscience of language, biolinguistics, forensic linguistics, experimental linguistics, and psycholinguistics. His research integrates expertise in language sciences, special education, and developmental psychology.
Mohammed Ali Al-Khulaidi
Dr. Al-Khulaidi is an Assistant Prof. in Linguistics, Phonetics & Translation at Ibb University, Yemen. Translator & Interpreter (Arabic/English); Trainer. Lectured in Yemen & India on various subjects including Medical English. Conducted translation & interpretation tasks for institutions. Research interests: Phonetics, Translation, Interpretation, Spoken English, Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Writing, Reading, and Medical Terminology.
Silvia Allegretta
Miss Allegretta is an early young promossing researcher at the University of Padova, Italy, with interests in psycholinguistics, clinical linguistics, neurolinguistics, and cultural psychology. Trained as a research assistant at the University of Oslo during an Erasmus program.
Mona Mohammed Abdulkhalek
Dr. Abdulkhalek, an Assistant Professor at Ibb University's Centre of Language and Translation, specializes in Linguistics and Phonetics. With research interests spanning phonetics, spoken English intelligibility, World Englishes, and second language acquisition, she brings a diverse academic focus to her role.