Thesis Thoughts
This is my "thesis semester." Honestly, it's intimidating. A lot of my future hangs on the success of my thesis. If I finish a good seventy pages or so, I can graduate with my MA in Forensic Linguistics. If it is particularly successful, I could publish it and break into the field quite a bit.
The topic of my thesis is Native Language Identification as a tool in suspect profiling. Some research on Native Language Identification (NLID) has already been conducted. That research supports the theory that one can deduce a person's first language based on the kinds of "mistakes" they make in their second language. My thesis is about the applications of NLID toward building suspect profiles.
Ultimately, my goal is to expand on research in Native Language Identification so that it is more reliably used in cases to implicate or exonerate appropriate suspects. This would have considerable value in cases of terrorist communications and many types of international crimes like smuggling and trafficking. By identifying someone's first language, one can identify where they come from, and that is a huge component of a suspect profile.
This also means potentially exonerating immigrant populations, in the case of disinformation in the form of fake "bad" English. I don't know how often this happens, but my professor's mentor, Dr. Roger Shuy, famously identified a suspected kidnapper as a native English speaker for his attempts at faking non-proficiency in English. People love writing about the "Devil Strip" case, and for good reason; it's fascinating.
To summarize Dr. Shuy's part in the "Devil Strip" case; he was asked to analyze a ransom note. The note included the misspelled words "kan" and "kop" and the terms "precious daughter" and "devil strip." Dr. Shuy concluded that the author was a well-educated person from Akron, Ohio. Dr. Shuy explained that the correctly spelled "precious daughter" belied the proficient English that the suspect tried to disguise by misspelling "can" and "cop" - a mistake that second language English speakers are unlikely to make. The term "devil strip" gave the kidnapper away as being from Akron, Ohio, where the term is used to describe the grassy area between sidewalk and street.
From that note alone, Dr. Shuy concluded that the suspect was not an immigrant, as the investigators initially believed. If investigators do fall for such trickery, second language English speakers and those populations would be unfairly suspected and targeted. That is what I wish to help prevent.
Dr. Shuy relied on his considerable intuition, but my goal is to define and quantify the practice of Native Language Identification into a more scientific practice. My task this semester is to research toward that end, and have an academic paper to show for it.
The topic of my thesis is Native Language Identification as a tool in suspect profiling. Some research on Native Language Identification (NLID) has already been conducted. That research supports the theory that one can deduce a person's first language based on the kinds of "mistakes" they make in their second language. My thesis is about the applications of NLID toward building suspect profiles.
Ultimately, my goal is to expand on research in Native Language Identification so that it is more reliably used in cases to implicate or exonerate appropriate suspects. This would have considerable value in cases of terrorist communications and many types of international crimes like smuggling and trafficking. By identifying someone's first language, one can identify where they come from, and that is a huge component of a suspect profile.
This also means potentially exonerating immigrant populations, in the case of disinformation in the form of fake "bad" English. I don't know how often this happens, but my professor's mentor, Dr. Roger Shuy, famously identified a suspected kidnapper as a native English speaker for his attempts at faking non-proficiency in English. People love writing about the "Devil Strip" case, and for good reason; it's fascinating.
To summarize Dr. Shuy's part in the "Devil Strip" case; he was asked to analyze a ransom note. The note included the misspelled words "kan" and "kop" and the terms "precious daughter" and "devil strip." Dr. Shuy concluded that the author was a well-educated person from Akron, Ohio. Dr. Shuy explained that the correctly spelled "precious daughter" belied the proficient English that the suspect tried to disguise by misspelling "can" and "cop" - a mistake that second language English speakers are unlikely to make. The term "devil strip" gave the kidnapper away as being from Akron, Ohio, where the term is used to describe the grassy area between sidewalk and street.
From that note alone, Dr. Shuy concluded that the suspect was not an immigrant, as the investigators initially believed. If investigators do fall for such trickery, second language English speakers and those populations would be unfairly suspected and targeted. That is what I wish to help prevent.
Dr. Shuy relied on his considerable intuition, but my goal is to define and quantify the practice of Native Language Identification into a more scientific practice. My task this semester is to research toward that end, and have an academic paper to show for it.
Hi! I'm just a fellow linguistics grad student passing by. Forensics is a super interesting field and it sounds like your work will help people, it’s great. The thesis process can be very intense psychologically. Be kind to yourself and hang on!
ReplyDelete