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FAQs

What is forensic linguistics?

Forensic linguistics is the application of linguistic analysis to legal, investigative and forensic contexts. In simple terms, it involves examining how language is used to help answer questions relevant to the case, law or justice system. This might include analysing authorship, interpreting meaning, or identifying patterns in communication.

Linguistics itself is the scientific study of language: how it works, how it varies across people and regions, and how it conveys meaning. Forensic linguists use these principles to analyse real-world evidence, providing expert insights that can assist courts, law enforcement, and legal professionals in understanding language-based evidence.

Authorship analysis is the analysis of language to gain insights into who may have produced a particular text. It is one of the main areas within forensic linguistics and can serve different purposes depending on the case.

In comparative authorship analysis, linguistic features from one or more questioned texts are compared with those from known writings to assess whether they are likely to have been written by the same person. In sociolinguistic or authorship profiling, the goal is to infer information about an unknown writer, such as their regional background or level of education, based on linguistic patterns in their writing.

What is authorship analysis?

How is authorship analysis used in practice?

Authorship analysis can assist in a wide range of legal and investigative situations where questions arise about who wrote a text. This might include anonymous letters, threatening or harassing messages, disputed documents, or online communications. In some cases, it helps determine whether two sets of writings are likely to come from the same person; in others, it provides a linguistic profile that can guide investigative work.

Forensic linguists do not “prove” authorship in the way DNA or fingerprints might, but instead provide expert, evidence-based assessments of linguistic similarities, differences, and patterns. These insights can support courts, law enforcement, and legal professionals in making informed decisions about language evidence.

What kind of evidence can a forensic linguist analyse?

Forensic linguists work with a wide variety of written materials, including emails, text messages, letters, contracts, social media posts, and other documents. The analysis focuses on linguistic features such as vocabulary, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style, rather than physical characteristics like handwriting. Each type of text can provide valuable information about authorship, context, or meaning. For spoken material, we recommend contacting a forensic phonetician.

How reliable is forensic linguistic analysis?

Forensic linguistic analysis is based on systematic, evidence-based methods developed over decades of research. Analysts rely on careful comparison of linguistic features, statistical patterns, and established frameworks to draw conclusions. While linguistic evidence does not provide absolute certainty, it can offer highly reliable insights when conducted rigorously. Reports are presented with transparency about methods, assumptions, and limitations, allowing clients and courts to interpret the results appropriately.

How does linguistic evidence differ from handwriting or forensic IT analysis?

Linguistic evidence focuses on the structure, style, and content of language itself, rather than the physical appearance of handwriting or digital metadata. For example, two texts may be examined for similarities in word choice, sentence structure, or spelling patterns. This complements other forensic methods rather than replacing them.

What types of cases do you work on?

Our work spans legal, corporate, forensic and investigative contexts. Typical cases include disputed documents, anonymous communications, online messaging, threatening letters, and other instances where language can provide insight. We also offer consulting for research, regulatory, and compliance purposes where linguistic expertise is required. For each case, we assess whether our expertise can support the case or whether another expert might be better suited to assist.

Who can benefit from your services?

We work with a wide range of clients, including legal professionals, law enforcement, corporations, and private individuals. Anyone who requires expert analysis or insight into written communication, language evidence, or linguistic patterns may benefit from our services. Please do get in touch and we are happy to discuss how we can help.

What does a typical case process look like?

A typical case begins with a consultation to understand the client’s objectives and the materials involved and assess what the question is that needs answering. The analysis is then conducted systematically, with linguistic features identified, compared, and interpreted, often involving reference material. Finally, we provide a clear, evidence-based report summarising the findings, which can be used in legal, investigative, or corporate contexts. In some cases, expert testimony or further consultation may also be provided.

What languages do you work in?

We provide services in English and German, including analysis of texts in both languages for authorship, linguistic profiling, and other forensic purposes. We also offer services in Finnish in cooperation with external colleagues.

Do you use AI in your analyses?

Our analyses may rely on computational tools, for example using RStudio to conduct statistical analyses, but we do not use large language models, such as ChatGPT, for our analysis. All reports and conclusions are drawn through careful, human expert interpretation. Automated tools may support efficiency and consistency but do not replace the expert judgement essential in forensic linguistics. Notably, research does not fully comprehend how large language models arrive at their conclusions and constitute a black box approach, which is not suitable in forensic contexts due to its lack of explainability.

What are the ethical considerations in forensic linguistics?

Ethical practice is central to our work. We adhere to the cornerstones of neutrality, objectivity, and integrity, and follow principles of accuracy, transparency, and scientific rigour. We are committed to open research principles, ensuring that our methods and findings contribute to the wider scientific community where appropriate, while maintaining client confidentiality and case sensitivity. All our work follows the ethical guidelines set out by the International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguistics (IAFLL). Our goal is to provide reliable, impartial insights that can be confidently relied upon in legal or investigative contexts.