Semantic Analysis on the Police Lingo in the Narratives of BS LEAD Students: A Forensic Linguistic Study

Abstract

This study looks into the terminologies (police lingo) in the write-ups of Bachelor of Science in Law Enforcement Administration fourth-year students to illustrate the categorical and descriptive meanings of the words used in the narratives, identify the errors in the usage, and find out inaccuracies in the application of mechanics of writing like correct spelling, capitalization, abbreviation, and punctuation marks. Twenty-six (26) (BSLEAD) students participated in this study. They were instructed to write a narrative report in one of their experiences in the field. Police lingo identified in the statements such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives, were singled out from the narratives. These words were analyzed to determine whether they clearly stated their intention and described vividly what they meant to say. Semantic analysis was done by giving the dictionary definition of the word in the first level (categorical meaning as to parts of speech) and the illustrative meaning of the word in the second analysis (descriptive meaning), hence, the police lingo in the narratives were explained and described as to their literal meanings and clarity of intention as used in the statements. Results showed that male and female respondents have a similar choice of police lingo in writing the context of utterances in the narrative reports. They also committed errors in writing mechanics such as punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. It is recommended that the BSLEAD students engage in language learning activities like conversation using English, reading forensic texts, and listening/watching investigative programs on the radio or television that use English as a medium.