27. Multilingualism and Forensic Linguistics

Summary

This chapter focuses on forensic linguistics from the lens of multilingualism without, at the same time, losing sight of trends in monolingual research in forensic linguistics. In this way, this chapter not only fills an important gap in multilingually driven forensic linguistic research but also integrates monolingual and multilingual trends in the field. In the process of pursuing these two main goals, the theoretical notions and approaches of linguistics are identified together with their analytical and methodological tools. Emphasis is placed on case studies conducted by the authors involving some dimensions of bi-/multilingualism involving unconscious dimensions of the bilingual mind and its structure. Although based on unconscious and conscious language usage, linguists can uncover an individual's ‘linguistic fingerprints’, under no circumstances can those fingerprints be considered as unique or as reliable as an individual's DNA.