What is forensic linguistics?

Forensic linguistics is the application of linguistic analysis to legal and investigative contexts. In simple terms, it involves examining how language is used to help answer questions relevant to the law, investigations, or the justice system.

As a discipline, forensic linguistics applies systematic, scientific methods to the analysis of communication. This may involve analyzing authorship, interpreting meaning, identifying patterns in communication, or examining how language functions in legal settings. The field shares important connections with criminology, sociology, psychology, and law.

What do forensic linguists actually do?

Forensic linguists work across a wide range of legal and investigative contexts. They may assist law enforcement with authorship analysis, linguistic profiling, or the interpretation of threatening communications. They may also analyze interviews, transcripts, or recordings to identify communicative strategies, coercion, bribery, solicitation, or coded language.

In legal settings, forensic linguists help lawyers, judges, and juries understand language evidence through reports and expert testimony. Linguists may also contribute to research, training, and policy development aimed at improving justice system practices, particularly in areas such as interviewing techniques, transcription, and communication involving second-language speakers.

Who can benefit from your services?

Our services may benefit law enforcement agencies, corporations, legal professionals, investigators, government agencies, researchers, and private individuals who require expert analysis of language evidence or communication patterns.

What does a typical case process look like?

We begin with a consultation to understand the client’s needs, the available materials, and the specific questions requiring analysis. We then conduct a systematic linguistic examination of the relevant texts or communications and prepare a clear report summarizing the findings. Depending on the client’s needs and objectives, we can provide a detailed expert report to be used by the client in further legal action or internal investigations. Where required, we may also provide ongoing consultation or expert testimony. 

What languages do you work in?

We provide services in both English and German.

What types of cases do you work on?

We work across legal, investigative, corporate, and regulatory contexts. Typical cases include anonymous communications, disputed authorship, threatening messages, online harassment, contract interpretation, language crimes, and communication analysis.

We also collaborate with other experts when cases require interdisciplinary expertise and may refer clients to trusted specialists where appropriate.

What is authorship analysis?

Authorship analysis examines linguistic patterns to assess who may have written a particular text. In comparative authorship analysis, questioned texts are compared with known writings to determine whether they are likely to have been produced by the same individual.

Another form of authorship analysis is linguistic profiling, which attempts to infer characteristics about an unknown writer, such as educational background or regional influences, based on language use.

Authorship analysis can assist in cases involving anonymous messages, disputed documents, online harassment, threatening communications, or fraud investigations. While forensic linguists do not “prove” authorship with absolute certainty, they provide evidence-based expert assessments grounded in systematic linguistic analysis.

What kind of evidence can a forensic linguist analyze?

Forensic linguists analyze a wide variety of written materials, including emails, text messages, social media posts, contracts, letters, online communications, and other documents. The focus is on linguistic features such as vocabulary, grammar, syntax, spelling, punctuation, and style rather than handwriting or physical characteristics.

We may also analyze transcripts or recordings of spoken interactions where the focus is on meaning, communication strategies, or participant understanding rather than speaker identification. For speaker identification or voice comparison, we recommend consulting a forensic phonetician.

How reliable is forensic linguistic analysis?

Forensic linguistic analysis is based on systematic and evidence-based methods developed through decades of academic research and professional practice. Analysts examine linguistic features using established frameworks and transparent methodologies.
Linguistic analysis can provide reliable and valuable insight that supports investigative and legal decision-making. The ultimate decision making power rests with the court or investigators. We provide a clear analysis that details the methods used and any limitations so that results may be interpreted appropriately and in context by the court or relevant parties.

Do you do handwriting analysis?

No. Handwriting analysis is a separate discipline. Forensic linguistics focuses on the language itself, including structure, wording, style, grammar, and communicative strategies, rather than handwriting characteristics.

Do you use AI in your analyses?

No, we do not use large language models, such as ChatGPT, for our analyses. Computational tools including programming interfaces and concordancing tools may be used to conduct statistical analyses, data processing, and corpus analyses. All analytical interpretations, findings, and reports are conducted by a human expert using established forensic linguistic methodologies.