Dr. Richmond Sadick Ngula (PhD, Lancaster University, UK)

(Lecturer, University Cape Coast)

Did you know that if you wanted to list all the things that can kill you language will be one of them? Yes, language - and this is to let you see that language is as important as any other discipline or area of study.

So you might ask: how can language kill me? Let me use a well-known example in forensic linguistics (which basically means the role of language in legal and/or criminal cases) to show you how.

In the 1950s in the UK, two young men - Derek Bentley and Christopher Craig - broke into a warehouse to steal. Someone saw them and called the police. In no time the police were at the warehouse.

Craig had a gun on him. One police officer managed to grab hold of Bentley. According to witnesses, Bentley said: *"Let him have it, Chris".* Chris fired, but only grazed the police officer. Bentley was arrested, and upon the arrival of more police officers, Chris was also apprehended, but not after he (Chris) had shot one of them dead. The two were charged with murder, which for Bentley meant a possibility of the death sentence (Chris was underage).
Much of the court case, and the subsequent appeals, dwelled on the ambiguity of the words spoken by Bentley: do the words mean *"let the police officer have the gun, Chris",* or do they have the more idiomatic sense: *"shoot the police officer, Chris".*

The jury decided on the latter, and Bentley was sentenced to death and hanged. Many years later appeals overturned Bentley's conviction, but hey, he had died already. So, clearly, language killed Bentley. If you ever underestimated the power of language, this true story and event should let you think again about the practical importance of language.

I had double thoughts about English Language relevance till I met Richmond. All those specialising in English and Linguistics, you need to meet him too. Friendly, Scholarly, and Corpus😂. This is Mr. Daniel Fenyi, (Counselor and Educationist). Follow me on whatsapp/call *+233242937017* and Facebook *www.facebook.com/counselor.fenyi.7*

*© Daniel Fenyi*
(Counselor, Educator and Life Coach)

*© Richmond Sadick Ngula* (PhD, Lancaster University)
(Lecturer, University of Cape Coast)

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