Roger W. Shuy - Böcker

In The Language of Fraud Cases, Roger Shuy follows the now well-established format of his previous volumes on language and law. He discusses here eight cases that he himself has consulted on, and that illustrate how linguistics can help to solve the various problems that arise in trying to define fraudulent language in the context of law. He examines speech events, schemas, agendas, speech acts, conversational strategies, as well as smaller language units such as sentences, phrases, words, and sounds, and discusses how these can play a major role in deciding fraud cases. The cases chosen for this volume hinge on recorded language evidence, making them particularly relevant for linguistic analysis, and include cases of government contracts, EPA regulations, foreign corrupt business practices, trade secrets, money laundering, securities trading, art theft, and price fixing. Through his examination of these cases, Shuy demonstrates the significant contribution of linguistic analytical methodology to the understanding of language evidence and its success in revealing willful uses of fraudulent language to achieve financial gain.

Much has been written about how criminal suspects, defendants, and the targets of undercover operations employ ambiguous language as they interact with the legal system. This book examines the other side of the coin, describing fifteen criminal investigations that demonstrate how police, prosecutors, and undercover agents use deceptive ambiguity with their subjects and targets, thereby creating misrepresentations through their uses of speech events, schemas, agendas, speech acts, lexicon, and grammar. This misrepresentation also can strongly affect the perceptions of later listeners, such as judges and juries, about the subjects' motives, predispositions, intentions, and voluntariness. Deception is commonly considered intentional while ambiguity is often excused as unintentional, in line with Grice's maxim of sincerity in his cooperative principle. Most of the interactions of suspects, defendants, and targets with representatives of law enforcement, however, are oppositional, adversarial, and non-cooperative events that provide the opportunity for participants to stretch, ignore, or even violate the cooperative principle. One effective way law enforcement does this is by using ambiguity. Suspects and defendants may hear such ambiguous speech and not recognize the ambiguity and therefore react in ways that they may not have understood or intended. The fifteen case studies in this book illustrate how deceptive ambiguity, whether intentional or not, is used as commonly by police, prosecutors and undercover agents as it is by suspects and defendants.

This book by Roger W. Shuy, the senior figure in forensic linguistics, is the first to explain in an accessible way the vital role that linguistic evidence and its proper analysis play in criminal investigations. Shuy provides compelling case studies of how language functions in investigations involving, among others, wired undercover operatives, and the interrogation of suspects. He makes the point that language evidence can be as important as physical evidence, but yet does not enjoy the same degree of scrutiny by investigators, attorneys, and the courts. Beyond this, however, his more controversial thesis is that police frequently misuse or manipulate language, using various powerful controversial strategies, in order to intentionally create an impression of the targets' guilt or even to get them to confess. attorneys, law enforcement officers, judges, and juries This book makes its case by analyzing a dozen criminal cases involving a variety of crimes, such as fraud, bribery, stolen property, murder, and others. About half involve co-operating witnesses who do the tape recording, and the other half undercover police officers. These cases demonstrate how undercover operatives use different conversational strategies, such as overlapping conversation, ambiguity, interruption, refusing to take "no" for an answer, and others to create a negative impression of the targets on later listeners. Creating Language Crimes provides a fascinating window into a little-known and discussed facet of law enforcement. It will appeal to anyone concerned with language (particularly sociolinguists and discourse analysts), as well as to those involved in law enforcement and criminal cases. the appearance of such crime is created, law enforcement has not reached its evidentiary goal. Eleven conversational strategies were used in the twelve actual criminal cases described in this book.

More and more frequently linguists are being called upon to consult with lawyers and to testify at trials. The field known as "forensic linguistics" is growing rapidly as linguists analyze spoken and written language evidence in both civil and criminal cases. Roger W. Shuy is a prominent linguist who has applied linguistics to the area of law for over thirty-five years. His book is a practical, how-to guide for both beginning and established linguists who have been called upon in this capacity and who may want to start their own consulting practice. Step by step, the book deals with issues of how linguists first become and then represent themselves as experts, how they can start and manage the practice of consulting on law cases, how they can address important issues of professional ethics, how they can work most effectively with lawyers, useful strategies for writing reports and affidavits, and how to participate successfully in depositions, direct examinations and cross examinations at trial. Professor Shuy also suggests ways that linguists can use their forensic linguistic experiences in their publications and classroom teaching, concluding with suggestions of some recent books that forensic linguists may need for their personal libraries. Both American and British legal systems are covered. Any linguist who is involved professionally in a legal action will find this volume an essential resource.

Most people fight over something or other and language is usually at the very center of the conflict. Often the way we use language is the cause of the battle. There are many areas in which fighting about language can be observed but civil law cases offer the most fertile examples of this warfare over words. What did the contract actually say? Was there deception in the advertising? Was the warning label clear and effective? Did the company evidence race of age discrimination against employees or customers? Was one company's name too similar to that of another company? Did the corporation plagiarize the work of another? Did it fraudulently represent what its work?This book is about the ways linguistic analysis describes, exposes, and aids disputes in 18 civil cases where language framed the battle ground. Roger Shuy, a well-known forensic linguist and consultant, shows how the skills of linguistic analysis can help resolve disputed meanings, while also showing how civil cases can prove to be fertile ground for linguistic scholarship. He does this by collecting and analyzing cases involving contracts, trademark disputes, advertisements, product liability, copyright infringement, discrimination, and fraud controversies. In each case he employs all the tools of formal linguistics to show how it can be as helpful as other physical sciences in resolving legal disagreements.The work will be of interest primarily to linguists - sociolinguists, forensic linguists, and scholars and students of law and society - as well as lawyers and law students.

Slander and libel cases are largely about how one party uses language in ways that are claimed to defame one another. Linguistic expertise can be central to the case. In The Language of Defamation Cases, Roger W. Shuy describes eleven representative lawsuits--involving newspapers, television stations, religious leaders, physicians, teachers, entertainers, unions, insurance companies, and manufacturers--for which he served as a consultant. Shuy's linguistic analysis illustrates how grammatical referencing, speech acts, discourse structure, framing, conveyed meaning, intentionality, and malicious language affected the outcome of these cases. The Language of Defamation Cases shows how linguistics can be used to help resolve libel and slander cases. It will appeal to students and scholars of applied linguistics and forensic linguistics.

Among the most prominent scholars of language and law is Peter Tiersma, a law professor at Loyola Law School with a doctorate in linguistics (co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Language and Law). Tiersma's significant body of work traverses a variety of legal and linguistic fields. This book offers a selection of twelve of Tiersma's most influential publications, divided into five thematic areas that are critical to both law and linguistics: Language and Law as a Field of Inquiry, Legal Language and its History, Language and Civil Liability, Language and Criminal Justice, and Jury Instructions. Each paper is accompanied by a brief commentary from a leading scholar in the field, offering a substantive conversation about the ramifications of Tiersma's work and the disagreements that have often surrounded it.

The Language of Murder Cases describes fifteen court cases for which Roger Shuy served as an expert language witness, and explains the issues at stake in those cases for lawyers and linguists. Investigations and trials in murder cases are guided by the important legal terms describing the mental states of defendants-their intentionality, predisposition, and voluntariness. Unfortunately, statutes and dictionaries can provide only loose definitions of these terms, largely because mental states are virtually impossible to define. Their meaning, therefore, must be adduced either by inferences and assumptions, or by any available language evidence-which is often the best window into a speaker's mind. Fortunately, this window of evidence exists primarily in electronically recorded undercover conversations, police interviews, and legal hearings and trials, all of which are subject to linguistic analysis during trial.This book examines how vague legal terminology can be clarified by analysis of the language used by suspects, defendants, law enforcement officers, and attorneys. Shuy examines speech events, schemas, agendas, speech acts, conversational strategies, and smaller language units such as syntax, lexicon, and phonology, and discusses how these examinations can play a major role in deciding murder cases. After defining key terms common in murder investigations, Shuy describes fifteen fascinating cases, analyzing the role that language played in each. He concludes with a summary of how his analyses were regarded by the juries as they struggled with the equally vague concept of reasonable doubt.

The Language of Perjury Cases outlines the contributions that linguistics can make to both the gathering of evidence and the way that evidence is analyzed in perjury cases. Roger W. Shuy describes eleven representative lawsuits--involving bankruptcy, unions, hunting licenses, doctors, priests, and Senators--for which he served as a consultant. Shuy's linguistic analysis illustrates how grammatical referencing, speech acts, discourse structure, framing, conveyed meaning, intentionality, and malicious language affected the outcome of these cases.

In The Language of Bribery Cases, Roger W. Shuy analyzes the role that language plays in bribery cases. He describes twelve court cases for which he served as an expert witness or consultant and explains the issues at stake in each of these cases, for both lawyers and linguists. The cases described include the bribery or alleged bribery of United States senators, congressmen, judges, businessmen, and brothel owners. Shuy describes the often-unused linguistic analytical tools that are available to both the prosecution and defense as they argue these cases. He illustrates how grammatical referencing, speech acts, discourse structure, framing, conveyed meaning, and intentionality can be useful, describing how these tools affected the outcomes of the particular cases discussed in this book. The cases, fascinating in their own right, offer valuable insights not only to linguists, but also to lawyers who argue bribery cases, many of whom may not be aware of the linguistic tools available to them.

Using a linguistic point of view, The Language of Confession, Interrogation, and Deception is a practical explanation of how confessions work, written by the "father of forensic linguistics", Roger W. Shuy. Using his 1993 benchmark work, Language Crimes as his model, Shuy examines criminal confessions, the interrogations that elicit them, and the deceptive language that plays a role in the confession event. He presents transcripts from numerous interrogations and analyzes how language is used, how constitutional rights are not protected, consistency and truthfulness, suggestibility, written confessions, as well as unvalidated confessions. He concludes the volume with explicit advice on how to conduct interrogations that will yield credible evidence.

A landmark volume with cross-disciplinary applications, The Language of Confession, Interrogation, and Deception is useful for professionals and academics in linguistics, forensic linguistics, criminal justice, communication, and interpersonal violence.

Using a linguistic point of view, The Language of Confession, Interrogation, and Deception is a practical explanation of how confessions work, written by the "father of forensic linguistics", Roger W. Shuy. Using his 1993 benchmark work, Language Crimes as his model, Shuy examines criminal confessions, the interrogations that elicit them, and the deceptive language that plays a role in the confession event. He presents transcripts from numerous interrogations and analyzes how language is used, how constitutional rights are not protected, consistency and truthfulness, suggestibility, written confessions, as well as unvalidated confessions. He concludes the volume with explicit advice on how to conduct interrogations that will yield credible evidence.

A landmark volume with cross-disciplinary applications, The Language of Confession, Interrogation, and Deception is useful for professionals and academics in linguistics, forensic linguistics, criminal justice, communication, and interpersonal violence.

This collection of different perspectives on language variation serves as a companion volume to "New Ways of Analyzing Variation in English".

Plunging into the verbal quagmire of official language used by bureaucrats in both government and business, distinguished linguist Roger W. Shuy develops new techniques based on linguistic principles to improve their communication with the public. Shuy presents nine case studies that reveal representative problems with bureaucratic language. He characterizes the traits of bureaucratic language candidly, though somewhat sympathetically, and he describes how linguists can provide bureaucrats with both the tools for communicating more clearly and also the authority to implement these changes. Drawing on documents cited in class action lawsuits brought against the Social Security Administration and Medicare, Shuy offers a detailed linguistic analysis of these agencies' problems with written and oral communication, and he outlines a training program he developed for government writers to solve them. Moving on to the private sector, Shuy analyzes examples of the ways that businesses such as car dealerships, real estate and insurance companies, and commercial manufacturers sometimes fail to communicate effectively.Although typically bureaucracies change their use of language only when a lawsuit threatens, Shuy argues that clarity in communication is a cost effective strategy for preventing or at least reducing litigation. "Bureaucratic Language in Government and Business" explains why bureaucratic language can be so hard to understand and what can be done about it.

"A Few Months to Live" describes what dying is like from the perspectives of nine terminally ill individuals and their caregivers. Documenting a unique study of end-of-life experiences that included detailed conversations in home care settings, the book focuses on how participants lived their daily lives, understood their illnesses, coped with symptoms - especially pain - and searched for meaning or spiritual growth in their final months of life. The accounts are presented largely in the participants' own words, illuminating both the medical and non-medical challenges that arose from the time each learned the "bad news" through their final days of life and memorial services. Describing the nationwide crisis that surrounds end-of-life care, the authors contend that informal caregiving by relatives and close friends is an enormous and too-often invisible resource that deserves close and public attention. By incorporating not only the ill person's but also the family's perspective, they portray the nine participants in the contexts of their daily lives and relationships rather than simply as patients.Addressing such issues as palliative care, quality of life, financial hardship, grief and loss, and communications with medical personnel, the authors identify how families, professionals, and communities can respond to the challenges of terminal illness and the need to confront life's end.

The thesis of this volume is that writing done by students who control their own topics, who have genuine purposes for writing, and have a real, known audience, is quite different and valuable in its own right. It forms a rich source of information about how young students think, manage their social interactions, and use language with competence to get things done. By selecting dialogue journal writing as a corpus for analysis, it is possible to observe children's communicative competence in using written language purposefully, apart from their ability to master a particular form of writing. The central argument is that dialogue journal communication represents a kind of personal literacy, prior to and more comprehensive than the particular literacies emphasized and assessed in schools. The contents include a practitioner's view of the practice itself and a summary of the research study methods developed to analyze interactive written conversations.