ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with its exploration by acknowledging the dual nature of forensic linguistics as scholarship concerned with language as both the medium of the law and also often as its subject matter. It explores the field by essentially following the chronology of events in the legal process. The chapter focuses on the language of the law itself and the role of language in the investigation of cases where the law has been broken. It suggests to the courtroom, taking a brief look at how language itself may be put on trial and at how trials are actually conducted through the medium of language in different legal traditions. In criminal investigation, language evidence comes in the form of written documents, as audio or video recordings of spoken language use, or as witnesses' memories of such language events. The chapter concludes with a brief, critical look at the growing role of applied linguists as expert witnesses.
