A forensic stylistics investigation of suicide letters and suicide notes in Oshikoto and Oshana regions in Northern Namibia

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dc.contributor.authorKanyama, Jason Kapuka
dc.date.accessioned2023-07-10T07:36:16Z
dc.date.available2023-07-10T07:36:16Z
dc.date.issued2023-07-06
dc.descriptionTHESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENGLISH AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS AT THE NAMIBIA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SUPERVISOR: PROF. HAILELEUL ZELEKE WOLDEMARIAM CO-SUPERVISOR: DR. PILISANO MASAKE July 6, 2023en_US
dc.description.abstractCrimes related to forgery and falsification of documents are committed for various reasons. The investigation of written documents such as contracts, wills and suicide messages for evidence is significant in today’s world. Since there seems to be no decline in both the crime and suicide rates in Namibia today, suicide messages must be investigated from a forensic linguistics perspective. The escalation of crime today birthed an assumption that if suicide letters and notes are only treated as such, suicide could be faked to obstruct the course of justice. As a forensic study on suicide letters and notes, the current study drew from the Codal Variation Theory by Andrea Nini (2012). Specifically, the study sought to determine the authenticity of suicide letters and notes through a lexical forensic analysis, describing the authors of suicide letters and notes in line with a syntactic forensic framework. The study also sought to evaluate the genuineness of suicide letters and notes through a discoursal forensic perspective. It adopted the exploratory research design, followed the quantitative research approach and drew from the principles of the interpretivist research paradigm. The study established that the language used in the examined suicide letters and notes contained lexical features connoting positive and negative emotions. It also observed ineptitudes in the use of the rules of well-formedness in grammar. The authors explained the motives for their suicides, made reference and directives to addressee/s. Three major recommendations were made: A forensic investigation of all purported suicide letters and notes for authenticity and genuineness should be conducted; Engagement between criminal investigation units and forensic linguists; and Forensic linguistics should be introduced as a discipline in universities in Namibia.en_US
dc.identifier.citationKanyama, J. K. (2023). A forensic stylistics investigation of suicide letters and suicide notes in Oshikoto and Oshana regions in Northern Namibia [Master's thesis: Namibia University of Science and Technology].en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir.nust.na:8080/jspui/handle/10628/999
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherNamibia University of Science and Technologyen_US
dc.subjectNamibiaen_US
dc.subjectThesisen_US
dc.subjectForensic Linguistics/Stylisticsen_US
dc.subjectsuicide letters and notesen_US
dc.subjectauthenticityen_US
dc.subjectgenuinenessen_US
dc.subjectsuicideen_US
dc.subjectinvestigationen_US
dc.subjectprobative valueen_US
dc.subjectdocumentary evidenceen_US
dc.titleA forensic stylistics investigation of suicide letters and suicide notes in Oshikoto and Oshana regions in Northern Namibiaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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