Forensic Linguistics function in Evidentiary and Investigative Contexts

Recently, forensic linguistics has been an arena of significance in many fields of study especially in judicial systems, legal and forensic matters, investigation, and open-source intelligence across the globe. The term typically refers to legal and professional analysis of recorded or written language by experts (forensic linguists) to provide expert and correct interpretation. It is particularly used in legal matters especially in the court and criminal justice systems. In the court system, forensic linguistics is heavily applied to examine language evidence – either recorded in voice or handwritten in civil matters or crimes. The analysis or examination is carried out for two major reasons. First, the analysis is utilized when relevant investigations are carried out with a focus to help in identifying witnesses or suspects in specific cases or scenes, or the determination of the significance of writing or utterance to a case. Secondly, forensic linguistics plays a pivotal role when written or spoken language samples are presented to a court as evidence. In such contexts, forensic linguists provide expert testimonies of correct interpretation of the samples. As such, language analysis is significant in any judicial matters and systems provided the questionable language constitutes crimes. In most cases, crimes such as threats, hate speech, bribery, hate literature, coercion among others necessitate the use of a linguist expert for correct and most importantly professional interpretation. Evidently, the concept of forensic linguistics is ascribed to provide the truth from recorded speeches or voices and written languages in the face of a crime or relevant legal investigation matters. This paper will posit on the different ways and methods that forensic linguistics is applied to investigate and provide professional interpretation of recorded and written languages in evidentiary and investigative contexts.

CONCEPTUALISATIONS OF ANGER IN ENGLISH IDIOMS. AN ANALYSIS BASED ON THE EXTENDED CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR THEORY

The article combines the approach to idiom classification according to Langlotz (2006) and the recently suggested analytical framework for figurative language analysis known under the name of the Extended Conceptual Metaphorical Theory (Kovecses 2020). The aim of the article is to identify some of the conceptual pathways of ANGER idioms in English. The analysis of 37 idioms for expressing ANGER revealed that both metaphorical (e.g. go through/hit the root) and metonymic (e.g. make someone's hackles rise) motivations play a crucial role in the transparency of the idiomatic meaning. It was also concluded that three image schemas in particular play a crucial role in metaphorical idioms for expressing the concept of ANGER in English: ACTIVITY IS MOTIO N, INTENSITY OF ACTIVITY IS HEAT and ANGER IS HEAT. However, contrary to the HEAT element, which is particularly salient in linguistic metaphors for expressing ANGER (e.g. kindle the wrath), it is the MOTION element which plays the crucial role in the conceptualizations of ANGER in idioms in English (e.g. go through/hit the roof, flip the lid, fly off the handle).

Evaluation of language analysis to summarize the literature: a comparison to traditional meta-analysis in primary hip and knee surgery

IntroductionSentiment analysis, by evaluating written wording and its context, is a growing tool used in computer science that can determine the level of support expressed in a body of text using artificial intelligence methodologies. The application of sentiment analysis to biomedical literature is a growing field and offers the potential to rapidly and economically explore large amounts of published research and characterize treatment efficacy.MethodsWe compared the results of sentiment analysis of 115 article abstracts analyzed in a recently published meta-analysis of peripheral nerve block usage in primary hip and knee arthroplasty to the conclusions drawn by the authors of the original meta-analysis.ResultsA moderately positive outlook supporting the utilization of regional anesthesia for hip and knee arthroplasty was found in the 115 articles that were included for analysis, with 46% expressing positive sentiment, 35% expressing neutral sentiment, and 19% of abstracts expressing negative sentiment. This was well aligned with the conclusions reached by a previous meta-analysis of the same articles.DiscussionSentiment analysis applied to the medical literature can rapidly evaluate large collections of published data and generate an impression of overall findings that are aligned with the findings of a traditional meta-analysis.

A spatial ecological analysis of the reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver

As ‘nature’s ecological engineers’ beavers can intentionally modify their habitat by building structures. This ability can have wider environmental benefits, including benefits for other habitats and species. However, this ability to modify the environment can sometimes be destructive, bringing beavers into conflict with land managers and others. To understand the complex connections between Eurasian beavers and ecosystems, this study was based on R language analysis tool that used land cover types, river network distribution and observational record studies of Eurasian beavers to find their most preferred environmental resources and potential habitats. The results found that reintroduced Eurasian beavers have a high potential for settlement and dispersal in restored areas.

Using Ecological and Twitter-Based Assessments to Examine Impacts in Temporal and Community Context

In March 2020, Bronx County (NY) saw one of the first U.S. COVID-19 outbreaks. This outbreak coincided with the ongoing Einstein Aging Study (EAS), which involved older adults living in Bronx County completing annual two-week intensive data collection “bursts.” Thus, it serves as a natural experiment to study pre-COVID to early pandemic-related changes in the daily well-being of participants who were at risk both due to their age and their location. We examined within-person change in self-reported negative thoughts, affect, stress, and loneliness from a subsample of 78 EAS participants. Participants’ data from a two-week “burst” of momentary surveys during 2019 were compared with their data from the corresponding timeframe during the early COVID-19 period (February-June 2020). Personality and mild cognitive impairment were examined as predictors of change. Average momentary loneliness significantly increased from 2019 to 2020. Participants with greater neuroticism increased more in thought unpleasantness and depressed feelings. To understand the community context, community distress markers were analyzed using Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based assessments of public Twitter posts from Bronx County during the same periods. These Twitter posts also showed a surge of COVID-related topics at the onset of the Bronx outbreak. Language analysis showed a 2019-2020 increase in Bronx community markers of anxiety, depressivity, and negatively-valenced affect extracted from Twitter. We observed 2019-2020 change in both individuals’ well-being (via intensive reports) and in their communities (via Twitter). Contextualizing these with the increased COVID-19 discussion online suggests that these may reflect common pandemic effects.

Visual Language of Javanese Script on Shoe Design as Cultural Identity

Various culture in Indonesia is slowly being forgotten by the majority, for people now uses another way of communication to deliver the message from one person to another. One of the examples that could see is the usage of Javanese script or usually called Hanacaraka. Therefore, studying the visual language of shoe design from Flymax Indonesia case study will help the public to understand how urgent creative cultural product is. This research uses qualitative research regarding the case study based on the in-depth interview through the owner of Flymax Indonesia and visual language analysis regarding the visuals. This study has implications for the creative industry practitioners in conveying visual language and impacting methods in developing creative products by including cultural elements in popular products. From Flymax study case, implementing cultural to modern shoes is to strengthen cultural identity, user identity, and local brand identity, moreover supporting local economic growth and cultural preservation.