Stylistic analysis for law enforcement purposes: A case study of a language variable as an index of a suspect's caution in phrasing answers

Abstract

This study develops the hypothesis that a need to be cautious will lead a speaker to encode with relatively higher levels of lexical diversity. Application is made specifically to law enforcement by first explaining the working hypothesis as it evolved from a stylistic analysis of the 1976 presidential debates; second, describing the procedure for examining the transcript of an interrogation of a murder suspect; and third, presenting data which provide initial support for the hypothesis that caution may lead to higher lexical diversity.