Forensic Linguistics

In our field; the authentication of works of art; we mostly use the dialectology part of forensic linguistics. What this means is that we analyze language to determine if it was written by a native speaker of this language.

An example, in a drawing supposedly executed and inscribed by Salvador Dali, is the line of text at the bottom which reads “Por la grazia de dios”. “Grazia” is Italian. The Spanish spelling is Gracia. No native Spanish speaker would ever make such an error and not only because it looks different but also because in Spain the letter Z is pronounced a bit like an English “th”. The result is that to a native Spaniard like Salvador Dali, Gracia sounds completely different from Grazia.

Salvador Dali was an educated man. He wrote several books. He would never have misspelled such a word.

We apply forensic linguistics to writings, documents and inscriptions in many languages in the course of authentication paintings. It is one of the many forensic methods we use.

If you have a painting, a work of art or an entire collection you would like to authenticate or appraise, please contact us and we will help you.