Male Serial Killers and their Language Use

This study examined the interview transcripts of three (3) male serial killers Tommy Lynn Sells, Robert Pickton, and Israel Keyes to determine whether they share similarities in the way that they made use of language. More specifically, the study focused on the serial killers’ similarities in (1) vocabulary, in terms of pronouns, adjectives, and intensifiers (2) syntax, more specifically their use of contraction and hedges; and (3) behavior in the way that they used language, centering more particularly on their repetitions and speech fillers. To determine these, Discourse Analysis was used as a method of research. Discourse Analysis studies language-in-use (Kamalu and Osisanwo, 2015). It focuses on entire conversations and real texts to know the role of language in understanding people. That is, it prefers to analyze “naturally-occurring” language. Important findings were: serial killers share similarities in language use; (1) they have the tendency to be self-centered and narcissist; (2) they make a boundary between them and others; (3) they make use of ordinary language and simple adjectives to describe people and objects; (4) they make use of repetitive, indefinite, and unspecific words, hinting limitedness of vocabulary; (5) they make use of intensifiers to emphasize innocence and ignorance; (6) they make use of contractions which result to appearing laid-back, casual, and informal; (7) they exhibit a distorted and inconsistent perception of reality; (8) they make use of hedges in a calculated, noncommittal, and evasive manner which reflects uncertainty, indecision, and doubt; (9) they make use of repetitive words that are parallel to their addiction to killing; and (10) they make use of fillers and pauses in order to make clear what they want to say or as a manipulative tendency to come up with a word to say.