Language Studies

Detecting the Lies of Defendants Using Language Pragmatics

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research original ,Regular Article

Authors

maryam jalili 1
Hossein Razavian 2

1 university of semnan

2 Assistant Professor At Department of Linguistics, University of Semnan

10.30465/ls.2026.16985.1578
Abstract
Forensic linguistics is an applied branch of linguistic studies that draws on linguistic theories and methodologies to analyze language-related phenomena within legal contexts. The present study adopts a pragmatic approach to examine and detect deception in the speech of defendants involved in two types of crimes, namely fraud and theft. Employing a descriptive–analytical research design, the data were collected from eight authentic fraud and theft cases archived in the judiciary of Semnan Province. Within this framework, three core pragmatic principles—implicature, speech acts, and suspension—were employed as the analytical model. The findings indicate that fraud defendants use conventional implicatures (such as but, even, and still) approximately twice as frequently as theft defendants when producing deceptive statements. Moreover, while theft defendants generally observe felicity conditions, violations of these conditions are salient in the speech of fraud defendants. In contrast, pausing and hesitation in responding to questions are predominantly observed in the speech of theft defendants. Additionally, theft defendants make substantially greater use of infelicitous utterances and indirect speech acts than fraud defendants. Finally, another salient finding reveals that suspension—as a linguistic strategy for systematic evasion and concealment—is exclusively employed by fraud defendants.

Keywords

Keywords (s):Forensic Linguistics
Lie
Implicature
Speech actions
Suspension
Subjects
Language Studies

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 21 September 2026

  • Receive Date 07 September 2017
  • Revise Date 18 September 2026
  • Accept Date 21 September 2026

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