Call For Papers: Conspiracy Theories and Pseudolaw Conference 📅 Friday 19 June 2026 📍 Lincoln's Inns Fields, Queen Mary, University of London tinyurl.com/5bwhur6v Please email your submission (max 300 words) to [email protected] by 28 February 2026. Please share.

On 12 February, I'm (virtually) returning to @aifl.bsky.social! In this talk, I will explain why I think that legal and magical discourses are functionally identical and how approaching the analysis of legal texts with their magical qualities in mind will benefit researchers. Tickets below:

Did you know we have a mailing list for the discussion of all maters related to corpus linguistics and SIG events? Sign up now to stay in the loop about our upcoming elections and AGM! You can do so yourself at www.jiscmail.ac.uk (search for BAAL-CORPUS-SIG) or just email [email protected].

"A core principle behind the founding of the United States is 'No Kings.'...250 years into our independent nationhood, Trump either believes or pretends he can do anything he wants, unaccountable to any earthly authority." @jilldlawrence.bsky.social on today's protests www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Come join us on the BAAL Corpus SIG! And don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Just over one week left to submit an abstract for our upcoming event, "AI and EAP: New Directions" hosted by Coventry University! You can view the call for papers and register to attend on 15 December at the link below:

Out now (and open access!) in the International Journal for the Semiotics of Law: "What We Talk About When We Talk About Forensic Linguistics" This article is my attempt to get a handle on the perennial problem of describing forensic linguistics as a coherent field. 1/5 rdcu.be/eJoJP

I'm once again thinking about how great it must have been to be a linguist in the 60s. You could just say stuff! The amount of people who got away with what is essentially "It is doubtless true that..." followed by an unevidenced claim and are still widely cited today is staggering.

I absolutely love this! It's like they took my PhD thesis and turned it into an art project. I'll be referencing Heavyweight in future language and law classes and talks I give about legal semiotics; you can generate your own legal-seeming letters at heavyweight.cc. Amazing stuff!

Coming up on 29 July: I'm excited to present a keynote as part of AASTMT's symposium on "Forensic Linguistics across Legal, Digital and Public Discourses"! I'll be discussing what makes data "legal" and why that status does (or sometimes doesn't) matter. It'll be a fun day; come along if you can!

I'm now on LinkedIn! If you'd like, you can connect with me there at www.linkedin.com/in/david-griffin-b94571375.

I had a blast talking to Robbie for this! Check it out to learn about my research interests and my forensic linguistics origin story. And thanks again to @aifl.bsky.social for having me!

New preprint from Alex Moe and myself! "American Courtroom Data: A Legal Guide for Researchers" will be in the next issue of Language and Law / Linguagem e Direito. In this piece, we explore the legal regulations surrounding the access and use of data derived from US courtroom proceedings.

That's it from me at #CL2025 this week! I had a blast. See everyone in two years!

This afternoon at #CL2025: Annina Van Riper on "Linguistic mechanisms of trust in the Pick-Up artist community: a multidimensional analysis". There are some interesting parallels here between PUAs and Sovereign Citizen "gurus"!

@debbiecabral.bsky.social leads us through her approach to dealing with issues of relevance and dispersion in corpus analysis as the BAAL Corpus SIG panel continues #CL2025

Siân Alsop opens the BAAL Corpus SIG panel on "Methodological innovation in applied corpus linguistics" by explaining her work on the Children's Storybook Corpus. Next up @debbiecabral.bsky.social and then me! #CL2025

And we're off! @robbielove.org opens #CL2025 on what is looking to be a sweltering day in Birmingham

Seeking participants! An MA student I am supervising is looking for speakers of English to answer a few survery questions for her dissertation. You can find out more and participate at this link: mailchi.mp/6fcd7c955006... Please share and sign up if you can!

New research from MIT found that those who used ChatGPT can’t remember any of the content of their essays. Key takeaway: the product doesn’t suffer, but the process does. And when it comes to essays, the process *is* how they learn. arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...

The amazing @empowell.bsky.social has a new monograph out today about the language of mass shooter manifestos. I've been following Emily's work since we did our PhDs together and highly recommend anyone interested in the topic check it out. www.routledge.com/The-Language...

i can’t get enough of the chicago pope jokes

I'm very much looking forward to serving as the next treasurer of the International Association for Forensic & Legal Linguistics! It'll be great to contribute to the continued development of @iafll.bsky.social which, as I've said before, has always felt like my "home" organization.

Wow Chicago! #HandsOff #FiftyFiftyOne (🎥 Marco Foster)

There are trans Americans right now looking out at this world and wondering if anyone is going to stand up for them and for their simple right to exist. Well, I am. We are. We will.

I'm very happy to see the Dean of @bulaw.bsky.social on this list!

After a soft launch in the last couple of weeks, #wmatrix version 7 is now completely freely available worldwide for academic users plus UK government and NHS email addresses. This is the largest revision of the software since it was created 25 years ago: ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/wmatrix/

After being asked to deliver what was essentially an emergency conference talk earlier today, I'm never leaving home again without my presentation remote. For safety.

Anyone interested in learning more about forensic linguistic casework should check out the Writing Wrongs podcast! @timgrant123.bsky.social and @drniccimacleod.bsky.social are absolutely brilliant. Find it in your podcatcher of choice or here: www.aston.ac.uk/writing-wrongs

I've been looking forward to getting my hands on this one for a while! Congratulations to @drjoemcintyre.bsky.social @dnetolitzky.bsky.social @drsarteschi.bsky.social and everyone else involved in this important and exciting project.

A topic I think @danaroemling.bsky.social and I both wish we were less correct about!

I'm really looking forward to giving this talk next week! I've been working on this for a while (some version of this has been in my head for years) and am excited to finally get my ideas out there. You can attend for free in person or online!

My latest visa application has been approved! This one lifts a restriction that had been present on every prior immigration document I've had in the UK; I can now work as a professional sportsperson. (Clearly this was the only reason I wasn't already doing so)

One week left to submit abstracts / proposals for #CL2025!

Free talk alert: Come learn about my latest research @aifl.bsky.social at 4pm on 20 Feb! (You can also watch remotely via the link below) This talk brings together my thoughts on legal genres, legal English, and the scope of "forensic linguistics" as a field. Plus I'll have some cool graphs!

Anyone interested in learning more about pseudolaw should absolutely follow @dnetolitzky.bsky.social! He's probably written more (and more thoroughly) on the subject than anyone else I can think of and his analysis of individual cases is always fascinating. Plus, he's just a nice guy.

We got married at the end of November! It was the absolute best day.

It happened to me: Over drinks tonight, someone unwittingly asked me if I knew anything about the exact topic of my PhD. The dream! #academicchatter

Many thanks to @danaroemling.bsky.social for their lecture on forensic authorship analysis as part of my Language and the Law module this morning. It's always a pleasure to hear them present! Forensic dialectology in particular is such a cool subject; I hope the students know how lucky they are.

The @iafll.bsky.social is now on Bluesky! A highly recommended follow.

✨ NEW & EMBIGGENED ✨ corpus linguistics and discourse studies starter pack Great to see the tribe connecting! #AcademicSky #LinguisticSky #LangSky #Linguistics go.bsky.app/AT6KX6X

I've just submitted my abstract for next year's Interational Association for Forensic & Legal Linguistics conference! Porto in 2017 was my very first linguistic conference, so these always feels like a bit of a homecoming for me. I'm looking forward to seeing people in South Africa!

National security issues will be front and centre over the next years here are some starter packs to help you navigate them: Conspiracy Theories go.bsky.app/FP8gwWj National Security Early Career Researchers go.bsky.app/NFDzxqK Think Tank, NGOs, Research Centers go.bsky.app/12RffMS

As a Chicago ex-pat, I am both thrilled and amused to see the NYT describe malört as "kind of good". Fun fact: Josh Noel, who literally wrote the book about this uniquely bitter spirit, has called me "the official Welsh ambassador of malört".

Yes. This. Each time I post about the hypocrisy I'm getting these kinds of cynical responses, and really, stop it. I get that everyone copes in their own way, but don't pre-give in. Fight for your actual rights. Call out the hypocrisy. Not to convince them, but to remind everyone else.

Issy Clarke is maintaining the starter pack of forensic linguists. If you'd like to be included, let her know.

Hello new followers! I am a lawyer with a PhD in linguistics who is particularly interested in the language of pseudo-authority and conspiracy theories. In addition to discussing work in that subject area, I also post more personal musings and the occasional dog photo.

My article about what we do (and don't!) know about the register of legal English is now available outside of a paywall at the link below! And of course you can still find it in the International Journal of Speech, Language, and the Law. #linguistics #forensiclinguistics #languageandlaw

People turn to pseudolegal conspiracy theories when they feel ignored by the legal system. There's a lot to be legitimately unhappy about at the moment; if you know someone who's struggling, one of the best things you can do is lend a sympathetic ear and gently try to bring them back to reality.