As implicações linguísticas da identidade = The linguistic implications of identity

Abstract

We are the language we use, and that language scaffolds our identity. However, that identity is fluid, not the least because we are permanently interacting social beings. Therefore, more than an identity, each speaker of a language adopts identity performances. This study builds upon this perspective to discuss the concepts of identity, vulnerability, gender and discourse(s), and applies them to an area of applied linguistics called forensic linguistics. It resorts to linguistic casework to show, one the one hand, how forensic linguistic analysis contributes to identifying problems with linguistic identity acceptance, arising from the reproduction of mainstream discourses, and, on the other hand, illustrates how the identification of idiosyncratic identity features - that is, the analysis of a speaker's idiolect - enables the positive identification of perpetrators of crimes, hence contributing to a more appropriate administration of justice. The article ends by furthering the linguistic implications of identity and explaining the new challenges.