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David Griffin

@linguistlawyer.com

2.3K followers 320 following 120 posts

American lawyer and linguist interested in the nature of law, pseudolaw, and the semiotics of authority. He/him

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David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Nov 9

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.

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · 2d

Now on to the next project! I've been getting back into the "law and magic" area lately and hope to have something fun to share about that in the not-too-distant future. 5/5

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · 2d

Many thanks to my friends and colleagues at @aifl.bsky.social for helping inspire this piece (particularly @timgrant123.bsky.social and Amy Booth) and for giving me an opportunity to workshop it at one of their Thursday seminars last term. 4/5

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · 2d

As I describe in the article, I think this definition accurately captures the breadth and vibrancy of the field while excluding work which clearly doesn't belong. By establishing a clear baseline, it also allows for the meaningful subcategorization of FL studies. I'm really proud of this one! 3/5

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · 2d

Based on definitions others have offered and a review of works commonly held to belong to the field, I propose that "forensic linguistics" is best described as "that set of linguistic studies which either examine legal data or examine data for explicitly legal purposes." 2/5

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · 2d

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

What We Talk About When We Talk About Forensic Linguistics

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Aug 21

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.

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Aug 5

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!

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jul 17

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!

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jul 16

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

www.linkedin.com

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jul 13

Very cool!

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jul 11

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!

Ralph Morton @ralphmortonlang.bsky.social · Jul 11

New @aifl.bsky.social blog alert! In the latest in his ‘Meet the Researchers’ series @robbie-davies.bsky.social talks to AIFL and Cardiff University researcher David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com about his work and the role of power and persuasion in legal language. Link: aifl-blog.com/meet-the-res...

Meet the Researchers: Dr David Griffin

By Robbie Davies

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jul 7

This article has been in the works for a while (a few years, actually, in some shape or form) and it's very exciting to finally have it out there! We hope it will help anyone with an interest in studying the US legal system understand how they can more easily (and ethically) obtain their data.

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jul 7

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.

(PDF) American Courtroom Data: A Legal Guide for Researchers

PDF | Subject to very few exceptions, courtroom data generated in the United States (i.e. any material that is either part of a docket or derived from... | Find, read and cite all the research you nee...

www.researchgate.net

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jul 1

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

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jul 1

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"!

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jun 30

@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

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jun 30

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

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jun 30

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

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jun 19

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!

Invitation to Participate

Reposted by David Griffin

Bradley Busch @bradleybusch.bsky.social · Jun 18

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...

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jun 4

Absolutely! www.languageandlaw.eu/jll for example. Also, sort of confusingly, "law and language" is a distinct thing having more to do with philosophy than linguistics. "Language and law" is closer to "forensic linguistics", if that helps.

International Journal of Language & Law (JLL)

Language & Law is a platinum open access scholarly e-journal which offers a forum for research on the interdependence of language and law in all of its facets, from theoretical approaches to practical...

www.languageandlaw.eu

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Jun 4

"Language and law" might be a good one to throw in there? I've definitely seen it (and used it myself) in similar contexts.

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · May 30

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...

The Language of Mass Shooter Manifestos: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Pre-Crime Narratives

Bringing together scholarship from corpus linguistics, forensic linguistics, and criminology, this book offers a nuanced exploration of moral agency in the pre-crime narratives of offenders. The volum...

www.routledge.com

Reposted by David Griffin

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · May 9

i can’t get enough of the chicago pope jokes

David Griffin @linguistlawyer.com · Apr 30

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.