ESTABLISHING THE INNER FORM OF NAMES CONTAINING THE LETTER COMBINATION «ROS» FOR THE PURPOSES OF FORENSIC LINGUISTIC INVESTIGATION

While investigating possible misuse of the names «Russia», «Russian Federation» and their derivatives (including «Russian»), forensic linguists may encounter particular challenges when the questioned item is a word that includes the letter combination «ros», and the task of the examiner is to determine whether «ros» is shortened from the words «Russia» ([Rossiya]) or «Russian» ([Rossiiskii]) in legal names formed by abbreviation. The article examines some methodological issues associated with such investigations.