New Frontiers in Forensic Linguistics

New Frontiers in Forensic Linguistics
Author: Monwabisi Ralarala
Publisher: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2019-06-25
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1928480160

The field of forensic linguistics is a niche area that has not enjoyed much participation from the African continent. The theme of language and the law in this book is one that straddles two important aspects of the legal history of South Africa in particular, and how it has impacted on the country?s legal and education systems. The declaration, by the United Nations, of 2019 as ?The International Year of Indigenous Languages? is opportune, not only for the launch of this book, but for what its research content tells us of the strides taken in ensuring access to justice for all citizens of the world in a language they understand. The contributions by authors in this book tell the story of many African citizens, and those hailing from beyond our borders, who straddle the challenges of linguistic and legal pluralism in courtrooms across their respective countries. It is our hope that the contributions made in this book will assist in ensuring human rights become a reality for global citizens where indigenous voices have not been heard; and that these citizens will be free to give their testimonies in a language of their choice, and that they may be heard and understood.

Forensic Linguistics in Australia

Forensic Linguistics in Australia
Author: Diana Eades
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2023-06-30
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1009197819

This Element presents an account of forensic linguistics in Australia since the first expert linguistic evidence in 1959, through early work in the 1970s-1980s, the defining of the discipline in the 1990s, and into the current era. It starts with a consideration of some widespread misconceptions about language that affect the field and some problematic ideologies in the law, which underly much of the discussion throughout the Element. The authors' report of forensic linguists' work is structured in terms of the linguistic, interactional and sociocultural contexts of the language data being analysed, whether in expert evidence, in research, or in practical applications of linguistics in a range of legal settings. The Element concludes by highlighting mutual engagement between forensic linguistic practitioners and both the judiciary and legal scholars, and outlines some of the key factors which support a critical forensic linguistics approach in much of the work in the authors' country.

Language, Crime and Courts in Contemporary Africa and Beyond

Language, Crime and Courts in Contemporary Africa and Beyond
Author: Russell H. Kaschula
Publisher: African Sun Media
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2023-09-08
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1991260199

The research represented in this volume, and in the series as a whole, is intended to provide critical analyses and findings that can underpin the development of language policies, practice guides and other resources that support a fair and accessible legal system. However, this will also require well-developed teaching and research programmes, so it is our intention that this volume will continue to support the growth of forensic linguistics in Southern African universities and nurture the next generation of scholars dedicated to forensic and legal linguistics. This aim will be supported by the newly formed African Association of Forensic and Legal Linguists (AAFLL), which will help to coordinate the study of forensic linguistics in Africa. This book series, Studies in Forensic and Legal Linguistics in Africa and Beyond, Volumes I, II, III and IV, continues to play an important role in bringing African forensic linguistic scholarship to a wider audience, while simultaneously promoting the field amongst academic and legal institutions in Africa.

Language and Legal Proceedings

Language and Legal Proceedings
Author: Endurence Midinette Koumassol Dissake
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2021-06-17
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3030763498

This book investigates language-related problems which arise in courtroom discourse in the Republic of Cameroon, in Central Africa. While Cameroon has over 250 national languages, court cases are conducted in the two official languages: English and French. This is despite the fact that 40% of the adult population is illiterate in these languages, and means that lay litigants often encounter language-related problems during trials. In this study, the author makes use of Speech Act Theory and Interactional Sociolinguistics to analyse the speech acts of both legal professionals and lay litigants as observed in 37 legal cases, demonstrating how the use of exoglossic languages in a highly multilingual nation constitutes a serious issue. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of Forensic Linguistics, Language Policy and Planning, and Discourse Analysis, particularly those with an interest in the African context.

Language and the Law

Language and the Law
Author: Monwabisi K. Ralarala
Publisher: African Sun Media
Total Pages: 458
Release: 2022-06-14
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1991201834

Language and the Law: Global Perspectives in Forensic Linguistics from Africa and beyond is the third volume in a series of books designed to contribute and respond to growing interest in forensic linguistics or language and the law on the African continent. Drawing mostly on contexts where traditional African laws and Western laws are practised side-by-side, and where there are discontinuities between local knowledge systems, belief systems and language practices on the one hand, and official languages of law discourse, conceptualisation and jurisprudence documentation on the other, the chapters in this volume problematise, among other issues, the mediation practices (or lack thereof) of language and legal processes, discourse strategies and complexities in (mis)interpretations in second language court contexts and the miscarriage of justice that these may entail.

Intersections of language rights and social justice in the Caribbean context

Intersections of language rights and social justice in the Caribbean context
Author: Clive Forrester
Publisher: Language Science Press
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2023-12-10
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3961104255

This volume brings together the work of six authors who explore various dimensions of language rights and how they intersect with social justice in the Caribbean context. Language rights advocacy has been an ongoing issue in Caribbean linguistics since at least the 1970s when the Society for Caribbean Linguistics was established and linguists started to turn their attention to the marginalised status of Creole languages in the region. This continued into the 1990s when dismal scores in secondary school English resulted in governments singling out Creole languages as the culprit and linguists had to get involved in shaping language policy for territories across the region. By 2011 the role of linguists was cemented in the language rights debate with the creation of the Charter on Language Rights in the Creole-speaking Caribbean. Using examples from Jamaica and St. Lucia, the current study examines the challenges that still persist ten years after the Charter, specifically in the areas of language advocacy, linguistic discrimination, and communicative hurdles in the courtroom.

A Handbook on Legal Languages and the Quest for Linguistic Equality in South Africa and Beyond

A Handbook on Legal Languages and the Quest for Linguistic Equality in South Africa and Beyond
Author: Zakeera Docrat
Publisher: African Sun Media
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2021-06-02
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1991201265

A Handbook on Legal Languages and the Quest for Linguistic Equality in South Africa and Beyond is an interdisciplinary publication located in the discipline of forensic linguistics/ language and law. This handbook includes varying comparative African and global case studies on the use of language(s) in courtroom discourse and higher education institutions: Kenya; Morocco; Nigeria; Australia; Belgium Canada and India. These African and global case studies form the backdrop for the critique of the monolingual English language of record policy for South African courts, the core of this handbook, discussed in relation to case law and the beleaguered legal interpretation profession. This handbook argues that linguistic transformation and decolonisation of South Africa’s legal and higher education systems needs to be undertaken where legal practitioners are linguistically equipped to litigate in a bilingual/ multilingual courtroom that enables access to justice for the majority of African language speaking litigants, enforcing their constitutional language rights.

Knowledge Beyond Colour Lines

Knowledge Beyond Colour Lines
Author: Monwabisi K. Ralarala
Publisher: African Sun Media
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2021-05-25
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1990995047

Knowledge remains timely in education. The need for academics to contemplate its relevance, worth, use and everything in-between deems a continuous intellectual project, rather than a conundrum to be solved. This book takes the South African context by the horns as it challenges the often dormant and traditionalist ways in which higher education spaces see knowledge. Through original research and the voices of academics and students, this book argues for repurposing knowledge generation, knowledge sharing and critical pedagogy so that more inclusive teaching and learning environments can be both imagined and sustained. The contentious tensionalities that this creates for LoLT and SoTL, in particular, are unlocked so as to trouble the South African higher education landscape with the intent to proffer alternative pathways for a knowledge beyond colour lines. Prof Shan Simmonds (PhD) NWU This edited volume bristles with fresh scholarly approaches and insights of an emergent generation of engaged scholars grappling with the issues and problems of higher education in South Africa. The issues dealt with here are varied and encompassing. They are treated with intellectual delicacy and probing sensitivity, articulacy, informed data and bold conclusions. They serve well! Prof. Kwesi Kwaa Prah, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of the Western Cape Founder of the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society

The Transformative Power of Language

The Transformative Power of Language
Author: Russell H. Kaschula
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 395
Release: 2020-09-10
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1108498825

A new study of the importance of language for sociocultural change in Africa, from postcolonial to globally competitive knowledge societies.

Multilingualism and Bilingualism

Multilingualism and Bilingualism
Author: Sammy Beban Chumbow
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2018-05-30
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1789232260

Research in the area of bilingualism and multilingualism invariably produces fascinating insights. In the Europe of yesteryears, the paradigm of one nation one language was dominant and fashionable as a nation-building ideology that multilingualism was considered a curse, a demon that had to be exorcised. Today, the avalanche of empirical evidence of research findings has established multilingualism and pluralism as an ideal for national development. The nine chapters of this book provide further elucidations of the issue of benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism and also provide original research findings on developments in the areas of psychological dimensions of bilingualism and bilingualism in information retrieval systems. The book by its illuminating description and insightful analysis of issues of bilingualism will be of significant interest to scholars, researchers, and all concerned with bilingualism and multilingualism from whatever perspective.