I have provided expert witness services on multiple cases, generally involving disputes over the interpretation of nonstandard dialects, most often African American English. In Price V. Southwest Airlines, the client was awarded a sizable settlement after filing a wrongful termination suit, having been fired for cause over rap lyrics he wrote and performed while not on the job. A full list of cases I’ve worked on is available on request. 

I have published on misunderstandings of African American speech in the courtroom in Language (the flagship journal of the Linguistic Society of America), and I have published on misunderstandings of AAE more broadly in American Speech, Frontiers in Computational Sociolinguistics, Penn Working Papers in Linguistics, and elsewhere. I have taught the science of auditory perception to the New York State Court Reporters Association (NYSCRA) and the Tennessee Court Reporters Association. I have taught about unconscious bias in the courtroom and linguistic ideologies to the Judges of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, to the Federal District Attorney’s Office, to the Navy JAG corps, and to the military judges in all branches at the Joint Military Judges Annual Training (JMJAT). An expert on not only dialect and linguistic ideologies, but also pragmatics and communication, I am comfortable on the stand under cross-examination, as I am very careful and precise with the wording of my testimony, not allowing for erroneous interpretations or unintended entailments.

My public statement on the linguistic evidence adduced in the trial of Officer Derrick Chauvin in 2021 (available HERE) is a characteristic example of the caliber and kind of work I perform in the legal domain.

I can be reached at thelanguagejones@gmail.com for inquiries.