Upcoming event: Join the Hub in the Pub!

The Hub is happy to be presenting in the famous and fun Linguistics in the Pub series at the famous and fun Naughton’s Hotel on Tuesday 28 March 6-8pm. Why not come along and enjoy a drink and some interesting discussion with us?

Misunderstanding mishearing: Why linguistic science is needed to cure serious injustice in our criminal justice system

Helen Fraser, Debbie Loakes and Lauren Harrington

Current Australian law allows police to provide transcripts to ‘assist’ jurors in understanding indistinct audio used as evidence in criminal trials. This is a source of known injustice – so how can linguistics improve the situation?

The first step is to understand the source of the problem. Clearly one factor is the fact that a police transcript might be inaccurate. Another less obvious factor is the fact that any transcript is evaluated by lawyers and judge checking it against the audio.

The Research Hub for Language in Forensic Evidence therefore has two main goals. The first is to demonstrate that checking a transcript against the audio is not a valid way to evaluate it. The second is to develop evidence-based methods for providing reliable transcripts.

This month we are fortunate to have a visitor: Lauren Harrington, PhD student at the University of York in England. After a brief introduction from the Hub, Lauren will describe her research on forensic transcription – then we will open for discussion.

BRING YOUR FAVOURITE EXAMPLES OF MISHEARINGS AND MONDEGREENS!
In case you need inspiration, check: The dark side of mondegreens: How a simple mishearing can lead to wrongful conviction by eminent linguist and great friend of the Hub, Professor Kate Burridge.


How to join us

Date and time: Tuesday 28 Feb 6-8pm
Venue: Naughton’s Hotel 43 ROYAL PARADE, PARKVILLE (corner of Morrah St)
Tram: 19 Stop 12
Hotel phone: +61 (3) 9347 2255
Food and drink: available from the pub – menu info is here.

Full information: on the Linguistics in the Pub Facebook page – and keep in touch via that page for further LiP events.