EXAMINING THE ROLE OF FORENSIC LINGUISTICS IN UNCOVERING LANGUAGE CRIMES ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS DURING THE SUDANESE CIVIL WAR

Social media has become a powerful instrument in modern wars, turning language itself into a tool for inciting and justifying violence. This study argues that in the Sudanese Civil War, platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter (X), and Instagram have facilitated the rapid spread of hate speech, threats, libel, and calls for violence. Despite limited research on forensic-linguistic dynamics in digital confrontations within African cultures, online hostility often escalates into offline conflict. Using document analysis and the reading-note technique, this qualitative investigation collected data from Sudanese social media during the crisis, focusing on hate speech, abuse, threats, and provocation. The study carefully categorized and interpreted situational colloquials and culturally specific terms related to language crimes, guided by a forensic linguistics framework. Evidence from the report shows that deriding tags, racial slurs, religious abuses, and menacing threats are common in Sudanese internet discourse. These hostile utterances not only demean targets but also reinforce social divides and appear to justify violence. The findings demonstrate that language acts as both a symbol of violence and a direct incitement to violent acts. By employing forensic linguistics, this study provides a framework for interpreting language crimes in war-related digital cultures. Linguistic evidence can support authorship authentication, clarify intentions, and establish juridical responsibility in Sudan. Recognizing that harmful online discourse often escapes traditional monitoring in volatile societies, the study emphasizes the need for context-sensitive forensic analysis. Overall, this research contributes to both theory and practice by integrating linguistic theory, juridical methods, and war studies.