Ioanna Asanakidi
Up to now, a large amount of the literature on forensic linguistics has investigated linguistic cues for identifying deception during testimonies. Such linguistic cues are the propositional forms of implicatures and explicatures. Others have examined the semantic approach in which lying is connected to truth or falsity.
This paper is a preliminary attempt at the detection of deception in criminal discourse from a pragmatic view. I argue that deception derives not only from cognitive, but also from emotional origins. In this sense, the process of lying relies both on language and emotional activity that is reflected in the speaker’s management of behaviour during a testimony. A challenging area in the field of language study is the
so-called “ineffable communicated content” and especially non-verbal communication. I investigate how unintentional non-propositional effects associated with emotional reactions such as anguish, fear, pleasure and contempt may interact with words and could be valuable indicators of truth or falsity to law enforcements, in order to make worthwhile predictions. This paper presents a general framework of unintentional non-propositional effects that trigger emotion and can convey the complicated propositional content of lying. Movements of head, hands and shoulders, blinking, staring, swallowing and higher pitch are some of the paralinguistic features that are examined. The study explores the significance of non-linguistic behaviours to the interpretation of the speaker’s intention to deceive during a testimony and raises questions such as: How do the speaker’s gestures and tone of voice interact with their words? How do these natural behaviours apply to problem solving in criminal cases? The findings will be discussed in light of their implications for future research and potential practice.
 | Ioanna Asanakidi holds a BA in English and Greek Linguistics and an MA in English Language, Linguistics and Translation from the University of Athens. She is an English Language teacher and Forensics Speech coach in primary and secondary education and a substitute English Professor at the Hellenic Police Academy. Her research interest focuses on forensic linguistics, pragmatics, linguistic behaviour and its underlying neural and cognitive processes. |