Confirmatory evidence
Definition
Evidence that increases the probability of a hypothesis already suggested by other means. In UNABOM, the linguistic analysis served this role: it made the case against Kaczynski stronger once he was identified, but did not generate the identification itself.
Related terms
- Authorial profiling
- The production of demographic and psychological inferences from a text's language, as opposed to attribution, which names a specific author. The UNABOM...
- FBI Linguistic Analysis Unit (LAU)
- The FBI division responsible for linguistic profiling, author identification, and threat assessment. The LAU produced the authorial profile used in the UNABOM...
- Idiolectal feature
- A linguistic habit characteristic of one specific person rather than a group. In the Unabomber case, phrase patterns such as 'feelings of...
- UNABOM
- The FBI case designation for the Unabomber investigation (Universities and Airlines BOMbing). The case ran from 1978 to 1996 and is one...
Explained in
- The Unabomber Case: Stylometric Attribution at ScaleEvidence that increases the probability of a hypothesis already suggested by other means. In UNABOM, the linguistic analysis served this role: it made the case...