My new website is now up and running! You can follow my research and get in touch with me at linguistlawyer.com.

I'm interviewed in the latest issue of Babel: The Language Magazine! Check it out to learn about how I first became interested in linguistics, the concept of "lexomancy", and some of the things I've been up to since I finished my PhD.

https://babelzine.co.uk/

It seems that the whole of this year's Law and Corpus Lingustics conference has been preserved online! You can watch my presentation from about 9:45 to 26:00 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xit2AhQimEo

I'm excited to present at BYU Law's Law and Corpus Linguistics conference this Friday! I'm talking about one of my favorite topics: what we actually empirically know about "legal English." It'll be nice to see what a more legally-minded crowd has to say about my work.

Some exciting personal news: we got engaged last night while camping in west Wales! I'm absolutely thrilled.

I submitted my thesis last September, passed my viva in November, turned in my corrections in December, received my diploma in January, and yesterday I attended my PhD graduation! The PhD doesn't get any more officially over than this. What a journey!

Also! I recently accepted a Research Associate at Cardiff University which lasts through next spring. It's exciting to be sticking around CLCR while I figure out what my next steps are!

I've just had an article published in the International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation! It follows up on my PhD research by exploring themes of power and identity in Sovereign Citizen pseudolegal courtroom filings. You can read it here:

https://www.ijcam.org/articles/i-hereby-and-herein-claim-liberties

#ForensicLinguistics #Pseudolaw #LanguageAndLaw

@SuneAuken Thank you! I will absolutely keep that in mind.

@SuneAuken @davidallengreen @StevePeers I haven't looked at Brexit-specific discourses but would not be at all surprised to find similar "lexomantic" practices on both sides (probably more pre-Brexit on the leave side and post-Brexit on the remain side). While my focus is primarily US-based, there's certainly been some interesting Sovereign Citizen-style attempts at reclaiming "sovereignty" in the UK in recent years, e.g. https://www.vice.com/en/article/qj8azx/anti-lockdown-and-sovereign-citizen-protesters-tried-to-capture-edinburgh-castle-they-failed. Lots of this going around lately! 3/3

@SuneAuken @davidallengreen @StevePeers In my thesis, in addition to this magic angle, I talk about the sorts of pseudolegal conspiracy documents I examined as an example of a "parasitic genre" which attempts to trick its readers into assuming it possesses the legitimate authority of a genre it is imitating (in this case, legitimate legal documents). You can see similar efforts in other conspiracy movements (e.g. flat earthers imitating actual scientific texts). 2/3

@SuneAuken @davidallengreen @StevePeers Hello all! Thank you so much for your interest (and your sympathy, Steve; I've so far been lucky enough to avoid any direct contact with the conspiracy theorists I studied, but I'm aware that it might just be a matter of time). As far as I know, I'm the first one to use "lexomancy" in this sort of academic sense, though I think it appears in at least one fantasy novel somewhere. I'm glad it seems to communicate the idea I wanted to get across!

I passed my PhD viva last night! A huge thank you to my supervisors, Chris Heffer and Dawn Knight, my examiners, Janet Ainsworth and Mike Handford, and my chair, Michelle Aldridge-Waddon. It's been an incredible journey over the past few years and I'm so grateful to everyone who has been a part of it. Now on to the next thing! (Whatever that may be)

@subjacentish That sounds really interesting! I would love to hear about it at some point.

Hello! I'm setting this account up as I transition away from my Twitter account (@d_grif).

I am a lawyer and linguist currently in the final weeks of my PhD at Cardiff University. My work focuses on the use of language in legal contexts, with a particular interest in how authority is manifested in legal texts. More to come soon, particularly after I survive my viva!

#Linguistics #ForensicLingusitics #Lawyer #CorpusLinguistics #LanguageAndLaw #Academia #Academic #AcademicChatter #PhDChat