About
Spanning more than 30 years, Professor Eggington has been a consultant and expert witness in over 85 criminal, civil, federal and state cases including trade mark and contract language disputes, fraudulent and deceptive advertising and negotiations, assessment of English language proficiency, authorial attribution or author identification, hate crime determination and language policy legislation. He was an early adopter of corpus linguistics, or big data linguistic analysis within forensic linguistic contexts. This approach meets evidentiary standards. As such, he has been an instructor in many continuing legal education (CLE) events, including a workshop conducted for the Georgia State Superior Court. He has also been involved as either the lead linguist, or as a contributing linguist in a number of amicus curiae briefs submitted to the United States Supreme Court.
In recent years, since retiring in 2020 as emeritus professor of linguistics from Brigham Young University, Dr. Eggington has consulted on cases including: trademark infringement, alleged fraudulent or deceptive advertising, non-native English speakers' comprehension of their Miranda Waiver and police interrogation including a prominent case involving a foreign government official, the comprehensibility of a state's election ballots for the U.S. Department of Justice, the identification of the author of an amendment to a will, the meaning of a city civil code, and the meaning of a clause in an insurance policy.
In 2022, Dr. Eggington accepted a three-year appointment to the Model Utah Jury Instructions Civil Committee, under the direction of the Utah Judicial Council, Salt Lake City, Utah. This appointment requires that he analyze existing and future jury instructions in terms of their comprehensibility by jurors.
Originally from Australia, Dr. Eggington is an applied sociolinguist, a field that involves the study of how people use language in natural settings. He has co-edited six books and written one textbook that focus on the role of the English language, both nationally and internationally, and has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters in volumes published by major national, international and professional association presses. In addition to this work, he conducts research on matters involving language and the law. This forensic linguistic research has resulted in publications and presentations including:
“Generic Ab Initio: How Corpus Linguistics Can Shed New Light on Generic Trademarks” with J. Heilpern, Z. Smith and E. Brown. Buffalo Law Review, Vol 7:2, April 2022.
“Line, Please? An Analysis of the Rehearsed Speech Characteristics of Native Korean Speakers on the English Oral Proficiency Interview—Computer (OPIc)” with Gwyneth Gates, Troy L Cox, Teresa Reber Bell. In Language Testing in Asia (2020)
“Language and the Law: An Overview of Forensic Linguistics.” In Proceedings of the Linguistics Society of Korea 2014 Conference. Linguistics Society of Korea, 2014.
“Using Elicited Oral Response Testing in Order to Determine the Need for an Interpreter” (with Troy Cox). In Harvard Latino Law Review, Spring 2013
“Finding Justice in Translation: Recent American Jurisprudence Affecting Due Process for Linguistic Minorities Together with Practical Solutions” (with Judge Lynn W. Davis, Maxwell Alan Miller, Adam Prestidge). In Harvard Latino Law Review. Spring 2011.
“Deception and Fraud.” In Dimensions of Forensic Linguistics, M. Teresa Turell and John Gibbons (eds.). Amsterdam: John Benjamins 2008.
Research Presentations Involving Forensic Linguistics:
2023: “Genericide and Corpus Linguistics” with J. Heilpern, E. Brown, Z. Smith. Eighth Annual Law and Corpus Linguistics Conference, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. October 2023.
2023: “Heritage Language Speakers in the Police Interrogation Context” with Dr. Cecilia Tocaimaza-Hatch. American Association of Applied Linguistics Conference, Portland, Oregon, March 2023.
2020: “Social Advocate Versus Forensic Linguist: A Case Study of an Internal Conflict.” Invited to present at the International Applied Linguistics Conference, Grogingen, The Netherlands, August 2020. Conference postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic.
2019: “Relativity Applies to Physics, not Ethics’: Exploring Ethical Issues in FL/FP Research.” Invited to participate in expert’s panel, Germanic Society for Forensic Linguistics, Graz, Austria, September 2019.
2019: “Law and Corpus Linguistics in Brief.” Invited to present at the Annual Language and Law conference, Brigham Young University Law School. Audience consisted of lawyers, including prosecutors, public defenders, and law enforcement representatives. This was a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) event. March 2019.
2019: “Law and Corpus Linguistics in Brief.” Invited to present at the Annual Language and Law conference, Brigham Young University Law School. Audience consisted of lawyers, including prosecutors, public defenders, and law enforcement representatives. This was a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) event. March 2019.
2019: “Corpus Linguistics Workshop” (with James Heilpern). A workshop to Justices and law clerks of the Georgia State Supreme Court, Atlanta, Georgia, March 2019.
2019: “Non-native English Speakers and Their Comprehension of Legal English.” Invited to present at the Annual Law and Corpus Linguistics Conference, Brigham Young University Law School, February 2019.
2018: “Language proficiency and citizen’s rights.” Invited to present at the Language and Law Forum, University of Utah, April 2018.
2018: “Fair and equal language access to justice for those not proficient in English.” A Continuing Legal Education (CLE) presentation with Judge Lynn W. Davis (Utah Fourth District Court). Invited to present at the Annual Language and Law conference, Brigham Young University Law School, March 2018. Audience consisted of lawyers, including prosecutors, public defenders, and law enforcement representatives.
2017: “Black Pragmatics Matter: Miscommunication between U.S. Police and Inner-City African Americans,” with Tanner Call. International Association of Forensic Linguistics Conference, Porto, Portugal, July 2017.
2017: “Causes and Effects of the Complexity of Legal Language in South Korea,” with SunOk Kim. International Association of Forensic Linguistics (IAFL) Conference, Porto, Portugal, July 2017.
2016: “Forensic linguist versus sociolinguist: A battle within.” Invited to present at an “Invited Colloquia: Applied Linguistics in the Courtroom.” American Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference, April 2016.
2016: “Free Speech, Hate Speech: Exploring the Language of Hate Crimes.” Invited to present at an “Extraordinary Session: Panel on Hate Speech.” Linguistics Society of America Annual Conference, Washington D.C. January 2016.
2015: "Are Dictionaries Done? The Developing Role of Corpus Linguistics in Definitional Disputes." Invited to present at the Association of Corporate Counsel Quarterly Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah.
2014: “Linguistics Elements of Hate Crimes Revisited.” West Coast Round Table of Language and the Law. Missoula, Montana, July 2014.
2014: “Language and the Law: An Overview of Forensic Linguistics.” Invited plenary address, Linguistics Society of Korea Annual Conference, Seoul, Korea, May 2014,
2013: "Some Matters American Jurisprudence Should Know about the English Proficiency of Linguistic Minorities." Invited speaker, Utah State Bar Association Conference, St. George, Utah, March 2013.
2012: “How Blind Is Justice in the Age of Proximity?” UCLA Multilingualism in Institutional Contexts Conference, Los Angeles. Invited Speaker, November 2012.
2012: “Intercultural Rhetoric in the Age of Proximity.” 7th Intercultural Rhetoric and Discourse Conference, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Invited Plenary Speaker, August 2012.
2012: “Measuring Language Ability in Legal Contexts” (with T. Cox). Georgetown University Roundtable on Languages and Linguistics 2012. Georgetown University, Washington D.C. March 2012.
2011: "Some Matters American Jurisprudence Should Know about the English Proficiency of Linguistic Minorities." West Coast Symposium on Language and the Law. San Diego State University, August 2011.
2011: Elicited Imitation as a Determiner of the Need for a Court Interpreter” (with T. Cox and S. Wood). International Association of Forensic Linguistics Conference, Birmingham, U.K. July 2011.
2011: “The Consequences of Feigned Comprehension in Interrogation Settings” (with T. Cox and S. Wood). International Association of Forensic Linguistics Conference, Birmingham, U.K. July 2011.
2010: “Toward solving the language testing paradox in English language planning, teaching and learning.” Invited Opening Plenary Speaker, Current Trends in Language Testing Conference, Dubai, UAE. November 2010. Funded by U.S. State Department.
2010: “Toward solving the language testing paradox in English language planning, teaching and learning”. Teacher seminar, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, November 2010. Funded by U.S. State Department.
2009: “Fake Comprehension Strategies by Non-native English Speakers in Police Interrogations.” International Association of Forensic Linguistics Conference, Amsterdam, NL., July 2009.
2007: “Linguistic Elements of Hate Crimes, ”International Association of Forensic Linguistics Conference, Seattle, WA, July 2007.
2006: “Resolving Trade Name Legal Disputes through Corpus Research” (with M. Davies). The American Association of Applied Corpus Linguistics. American Association of Applied Corpus Linguistics.” Flagstaff, Az., October 2006.
2005: “Studies in Forensic Linguistics for Pre-Law Students.” International Association of Forensic Linguistics Conference, Cardiff, Wales, July 2005.
2004: From Brand Name to Generic Name: The Kelley Blue Book Cases”. American Names Society Conference at Linguistics Society of America conference, Boston, MA, January 2004
2003: From Brand Name to Generic Name: The Kelley Blue Book Cases. International Association of Forensic Linguistics Conference. Sydney, Australia, July, 2003.
Professional Affiliations:
• Member, International Association of Forensic Linguistics
• Member, American Association of Applied Linguistics
• Member, Teachers of English to Speakers of English International Association (former member, Board of Directors, 2003-2006)