Linguistic fingerprints : how language creates and reveals identity How much of ourselves do we disclose when we speak or write A persons accent may reveal for example whether they hail from Australia or Ireland or Mississippi. But its not just where we were born we divulge all sorts of information about ourselves and our identity through language. Level of education gender age and even aspects of our personality can all be reliably determined by our vocabulary and grammar. To those who know what to look for we give ourselves away every time we open our mouths or tap on a keyboard. But how unique is a persons linguistic identity Can language be used to identify a specific person To identify or to exonerate a murder suspect To determine who authored a particular book The answer to all these questions is yes. 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 Linguistic Fingerprints will explain how these methods were developed and how they are used to solve forensic and literary mysteries. But these techniques arent perfect and the book will also include some cautionary tales about mistaken linguistic identity