A new book by John Hawkins, Distinguished Professor of linguistics, untangles some of the fundamental linguistic issues underpinning cases involving high-profile clients including Hollywood celebrities, major league sports teams and some of the world’s largest corporations.

Welcome to Books of the Month, where once a month, L&S staff select works from our Bookshelf of authors within the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. This month, we’re focusing on the study of language; its structure, function, usage, history and changes. 

This book draws on over fifty cases involving disputed meanings in the American legal system where the author served as an expert witness or consultant, to explore the interaction between language and law. Stepping back from the legal specifics and their outcomes, it analyzes the disputes from the perspective of the language sciences, especially semantics and pragmatics, and language comprehension.