Linguistic Fingerprints

Forensic and computational linguists have developed methods that allow linguistic fingerprinting to be used in law enforcement. Similar techniques are used by literary scholars to identify the authors of anonymous or contested works of literature. Many people have heard that linguistic analysis helped to catch the Unabomber, or to unmask an anonymous editorialist, but how is it done? This book will explain how these methods were developed and how they are used to solve forensic and literary mysteries. But these techniques aren't perfect, and the book will also include some cautionary tales about mistaken linguistic identity.