LINGUIST List 13.1619

Fri Jun 7 2002

FYI: Ling Corpora, Old Texts, Forensic Linguistics

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Martin Wynne, Seminar - Developing Linguistic Corpora
2. randy harris, Wanted. A home for old texts.
3. Dr Janet Cotterill, Summer School in Forensic Linguistics

The Oxford Text Archive invites you to come to

DEVELOPING LINGUISTIC CORPORA

What:	a one-day seminar
Where: Oxford University Computing Services, 13 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6NN
When: Friday 19th July 2002 09:30-17:00
How: Register online at http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/courses/summer/

The seminar will be led by the distinguished Professor JOHN SINCLAIR
of the Tuscan Word Centre, with the participation of:

Ylva Berglund (Oxford Text Archive)
Lou Burnard (OUCS)
Pernilla Danielsson (Birmingham University)
Martin Wynne (Oxford Text Archive)

The day will consist of talks, practical work and discussion. There
will be opportunities for participants to learn about and discuss not
only theoretical principles underlying corpus design, but also
practical issues in their construction and development.

Fees: standard £65, students £35

This seminar is part of the Oxford University Computing Services
Summer Seminars. Further information about the seminars and online
registration can be carried out at
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/courses/summer/.

For further information please email martin.wynneota.ahds.ac.uk.		

An older colleague here is contemplating his mortality and the disposal of
his goods, among which are "about thirty linguistics texts from the mid
fifties to the mid-sixties ... people like Sledd and Gleason". My own work
doesn't justify my taking possession of them (though I am very interested in
them), and nobody else here at UW does work anywhere near that area, so they
don't really belong in our library, either. It's a fascinating period,
encompassing the uncomfortable transition of dominance from a
Post-Bloomfieldian to a Chomskian research programme.

So, is there a good home, preferably institutional, out there somewhere for
these books? 

- -------<>---------
Randy Allen Harris
Linguistics, rhetoric, and professional communication
Department of English, University of Waterloo
Waterloo ON Canada N2L 3G1
http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~raha
http://www.incommensurability.com
Most robust email: rahawatarts.uwaterloo.ca

International Summer School in Forensic Linguistic Analysis

15th ~ 20th September 2002

Hosted by Chamberlain Hall, Birmingham, UK

A flexible programme of between one and six days is available which
provides a comprehensive introduction to forensic linguistic
analysis. The course is taught by highly qualified and experienced
experts in the fields of forensic linguistics, courtroom discourse,
forensic phonetics, forensic handwriting analysis and interpreting in
legal contexts.

Course Outline:

Days 1-3 September 15th-17th 2002
Introduction to Forensic Linguistics 

This three-day introductory course will examine some of the methods
linguists have for resolving questions of authorship, including
plagiarised texts, suicide notes, threatening letters and disputed
police interview records. We will also study some of the spoken
discourse of the legal process, including 911/999 emergency calls and
courtroom language. Finally, we will analyse a series of texts
designed for the layperson, such as the police caution and jury
instructions, and evaluate the success of attempts to improve their
comprehensibility.

Day 4	September 18th 2002 (Morning)
Introduction to Forensic Interpreting 	

This half-day course will address the role of the foreign language
interpreter in the legal process, including police interviews,
lawyer-client interaction and courtroom interpreting. We will study
the interpretation of the police caution, as well as the
police-witness interview itself, and the role of the legal interpreter
in the lawyer-client interview.


Day 4	September 18th 2002 (Afternoon)
Introduction to Forensic Handwriting Analysis I 

This workshop, taught over days 4 and 5, will deal with: (1) the
forged signature, and (2) disguise in continuous text handwriting. We
will discuss authentic cases, and there will be a strong practical
component. Participants will obtain first-hand experience of forensic
handwriting examination, and will be able at a basic level to identify
forged and disguised handwriting; they will also learn about the
difficulties faced by those who attempt to forge or disguise
handwriting.


Day 5 	September 19th 2002 (Morning)
Introduction to Forensic Handwriting Analysis II 

Continued from Day 4 see above for details.


Day 5 September 19th 2002 (Afternoon) This half-day workshop
will deal with children in the legal process, examining their access
to and experiences of the legal process. Drawing on authentic case
data, we will study and evaluate the provisions made for juveniles in
contexts such as the police interview and the courtroom, as well as
issues of oral and textual comprehensibility.

Day 6	September 20th 2002
Introduction to Forensic Phonetics 	

This full-day workshop provides a basic introduction to the various
sub-areas of forensic phonetics: forensic speaker identification,
speaker profiling, disputed utterance analysis and evaluation of ear
witness testimony (voice line-ups). Each sub-area will be illustrated
by tape-recordings and analysis deriving from real cases. The material
should appeal equally to the serious student and the seriously
prurient (sic) general linguist.

Queries relating to course content and further details/application
forms may be obtained from the Course Director, Dr Janet Cotterill,
at: cotterilljcardiff.ac.uk / Fax +44 (0) 2920 874242