LINGUIST List 19.1267
Mon Apr 14 2008
Diss: Forensic Ling/Phonetics/Socioling: Fadden: 'Prosodic Profiles...'
Editor for this issue: Evelyn Richter
<evelynlinguistlist.org>
1. Lorna
Fadden,
Prosodic Profiles: Suspects' speech during police interviews
Message 1: Prosodic Profiles: Suspects' speech during police interviews
Date: 14-Apr-2008
From: Lorna Fadden <faddensfu.ca>
Subject: Prosodic Profiles: Suspects' speech during police interviews
E-mail this message to a friend
Institution: Simon Fraser University
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2008
Author: Lorna Fadden
Dissertation Title: Prosodic Profiles: Suspects' speech during police interviews
Linguistic Field(s):
Forensic Linguistics
Phonetics
Sociolinguistics
Dissertation Director:
Nancy Hedberg
Sosa Juan
Murray Munro
Dissertation Abstract:
This dissertation presents a descriptive study of the prosodiccharacteristics of suspects' speech during investigative interviews withpolice. During police interviews, investigators direct conversation byasking suspects questions and making assertions thereby placing the suspectin the position of responding. Based on whether the suspect is a first-timeor repeat offender, and the type of information suspects produce, responsesare categorized and examined for their properties of pause, tempo, and pitch.
Response types explored in this study are affirmative, in which suspectsconfirm information in the investigators' questions or assertions;negative, in which information is rejected; relevant and irrelevant, inwhich suspects offer information pertaining or not pertaining to theinvestigators' questions; and confessions. Pausal features - responselatency, and pause-to-speech ratio - are found to differ across certainresponse types in both groups. In general, for example, first time suspectspause more than repeat offenders, both before and during turns,particularly when offering relevant responses. Among the temporal features,first-time suspects' speech and articulation rates are lower when producingrelevant information than repeat offenders' rates. Furthermore, firsttimers' irrelevant temporal rates are higher than relevant temporal rates. Pitch characteristics show less distinction across response types thanpause and tempo, although first time suspects' pitch values clustersomewhat more neatly within response types than repeat offenders', whosepitch values vary more widely.
The findings noted above are discussed in relation to previous studies thataddress the prosodic characteristics of discourse and emotion. Furthermore,on the basis of these findings, prosodic profiles of response categoriesfor first time offenders and repeat offenders are created. The potentialfor forensic application of these profiles is discussed, particularly withrespect to deception.
|