Writing Wrongs

'Slang' on Trial Part 2: My Killy and Other Friends

* Warning: Today’s episode contains descriptions of murder, gang violence, and knife crime. *   STOP! This episode is the final part of a special two-part episode. Make sure to listen to part one before enjoying this episode.  In part two of this special on Urban British English (UBE), Dr Nicci MacLeod and Professor Tim Grant discuss Nicci’s role in a 2021 murder case involving the suspect’s use of the term ‘killy’. Despite the prosecution’s expert defining the term as “the feeling of wanting to kill,” Nicci’s deep dive revealed a more common meaning of the term: ‘close friend’.      For a list of our sources and more information about this case, please visit https://www.aston.ac.uk/writing-wrongs     Have a question for Nicci or Tim? Email us at writingwrongs@aston.ac.uk and we may answer it during an upcoming episode!    Check out the official AIFL blog for more forensic linguistic goodies here: https://medium.com/@AIFLblog     If you have been affected by any of the themes in this week’s episode, please contact one of these free sources:    https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/   https://www.helpguide.org/find-help     Production Team: Mark Round, Jordan Robertson, Neus Alberich Buera, Karolina Placzynta  Sound: Mark Round, Sam Cook  Visual design: George Grant  Additional Voices: Frankie Vu, Aston Students     Resources    Professor Tim Grant’s home page: Tim Grant - Aston Research Explorer    Dr Nicci MacLeod’s home page: Nicci MacLeod - Aston Research Explorer    Johnathon Green’s Dictionary of Slang: https://greensdictofslang.com/     Linguistic experts as semantic tour guides by Dr Larry Solan: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250014956_Linguistic_experts_as_semantic_tour_guides     

'Slang' on Trial Part 1: Duppying Yoots

Series 2 - Episode 7 - Part 1* Warning: Today’s episode contains descriptions of murder, gang violence, knife crime, and a violent attack on a young pregnant girl. *This month, Dr Nicci MacLeod and Professor Tim Grant explore the analysis of Urban British English (UBE) in court. In the first of this two-part episode, Tim discusses a case from 2009 in which he analysed chat logs between two Grime music producers, Maniac and Snoopy Montana, who were accused of conspiracy to murder Maniac’s pregnant girlfriend. Tim drew on corpus linguistics to explore the non-standard variety of English the two used in correspondence with one another to better guide the court on the meaning of the language present in the data.For a list of our sources and more information about this case, please visithttps://www.aston.ac.uk/writing-wrongsHave a question for Nicci or Tim? Email us at writingwrongs@aston.ac.uk and we may answer it during an upcoming episode!Check out the official AIFL blog for more forensiclinguistic goodies here:https://medium.com/@AIFLblogIf you have been affected by any of the themes in thisweek’s episode, please contact one of these free sources:https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/https://www.helpguide.org/find-helpProduction Team: Mark Round, Jordan Robertson, Neus Alberich Buera, Karolina PlaczyntaSound: Mark Round, Sam CookVisual design: George GrantAdditional Voices: Frankie Vu, Aston students

Toxic Texts from the Tees Valley

Series 2 - Episode 6* Warning: Today’s episode contains descriptions ofharassment and stalking. We’ll explore themes related to verbal and emotional abuse, intimate partner abuse, highly offensive communications, and fraud.Listener discretion is strongly advised, as some content may be distressing. * August 2020, Darlington, North East England. A woman begins to receive vast numbers of abusive messages, which she believes are coming from her ex-partner Stuart Bell. It was not a straightforward matter for the police to establish whether it was Bell who was behind the messages. Investigating officer Kerris Dawson approached Dr Nicci MacLeod for help. Join hosts Professor Tim Grant and Dr Nicci MacLeod in unravelling the linguistic features that contributed to determining the authorship of the abusive messages.  For a list of our sources and more information about this case, please visit https://www.aston.ac.uk/writing-wrongs  Have a question for Nicci or Tim? Email us at writingwrongs@aston.ac.uk and we may answer it duringan upcoming episode! Check out the official AIFL blog for more forensic linguistic goodies here: https://medium.com/@AIFLblog  If you have been affected by any of the themes in this week’s episode, please contact one of these free sources: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/ https://www.helpguide.org/find-help  Production Team: Mark Round, Jordan Robertson, Neus Alberich Buera, Karolina PlaczyntaSound: Mark RoundVisual design: George GrantAdditional Voices: Mark Round, Sam Guerin With special thanks to Robbie Love.  Professor Tim Grant’s home page: Tim Grant - Aston Research Explorer Dr Nicci MacLeod’s home page: Nicci MacLeod - Aston Research Explorer

Terror in the State of Denmark - Conversations from a List of Resolutes

Series 2 - Episode 5Terror in the State of Denmark - Conversations from a List of Resolutes* Warning: Today’s episode contains descriptions of religious extremism, radicalization and plots of violence or terrorism. * Joined by Dr Tanya Karoli Christensen, hosts Nicci and Tim discuss a counterterrorism investigation from Denmark. In this case, linguistic analysis proved vital in unraveling implied meanings in text messages between a young man of Kurdish background, suspected of planning to travel to Syria to join ISIS, and another man, suspected of trying to recruit him. Through an analysis of 192 written chat messages from March 2015 between the two individuals, Tanya shares how themes of money, battle and war, and urgency in planning played a role in advancing a Danish police investigation. Listen to discover more. For a list of our sources and more information about this case, please visit https://www.aston.ac.uk/writing-wrongs Have a question for Nicci or Tim? Email us at writingwrongs@aston.ac.uk and we may answer it during an upcoming episode! Check out the official AIFL blog for more forensic linguistic goodies here: https://medium.com/@AIFLblog If you have been affected by any of the themes in this week’s episode, please contact one of these free sources:https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/https://www.helpguide.org/find-help Production Team: Angela Walker, Jordan Robertson, Neus Alberich BueraSound: Angela WalkerVisual design: George GrantAdditional Voices: Mark Round, Peter KiddleWith our thanks to Dr Tanya Karoli Christensen ResourcesProfessor Tim Grant’s home page: Tim Grant - Aston Research Explorer Dr Nicci MacLeod’s home page: Nicci MacLeod - Aston Research ExplorerDr Tanya Karoli Christensen’s home page: Dr Tanya Karoli Christensen - Research Profile  

Writing Wrongs Live!

* Warning: Today’s episode contains descriptions of violent murder, grooming and child sexual abuse, and online extremism. * This month, Writing Wrongs comes to you live as a part of the ESRC 2025 Festival of Social Science, from the West Midlands Police Museum at the Old Steelhouse Lane Lock-up. Our hosts are joined by colleagues Dr Emily Chiang and Dr Ralph Morton to discuss the past, present, and future of forensic linguistics. This is a preview of their (along with Prof Malcolm Coulthard) forthcoming book titled Forensic Linguistics in the United Kingdom: Origins, Progress and Prospects, which will be available in 2026 from Cambridge Elements.In the episode (about 40 minutes in) we discuss the Jenny Nicholl case and how their language differs - this is a transcription of the slide that the live audience could see:·      I am    |    Nicholl’s preference = im    |    Hodgson’s preference  = i am ·      I have    |    Nicholl’s preference = ive    |    Hodgson’s preference  = ave ·      my/myself    |    Nicholl’s preference = my/myself        |    Hodgson’s preference  = me/meself  ·      off  |    Nicholl’s preference = off        |    Hodgson’s preference  = of·      to    |    Nicholl’s preference = [word]2[word]        |    Hodgson’s preference  = [word]2+space[word]·      see you    |    Nicholl’s preference = cu    |    Hodgson’s preference  = cya·      phone    |    Nicholl’s preference = fone    |    Hodgson’s preference  = phone·      shit    |    Nicholl’s preference = shit   |    Hodgson’s preference  = shite·      am not    |    Nicholl’s preference = ‘m not   |    Hodgson’s preference  = ain’t  We were also thrilled to be joined by many of our Wrong’uns (our loving nickname for our fans) for this recording session! It was so lovely to get to meet you and hear your stories. Thank you for your support! For a list of our sources and more information about this case, please visit https://www.aston.ac.uk/writing-wrongs Have a question for Nicci or Tim? Email us at writingwrongs@aston.ac.uk and we may answer it during an upcoming episode! Check out the official AIFL blog for more forensic linguistic goodies here: https://medium.com/@AIFLblog If you have been affected by any of the themes in this week’s episode, please contact one of these free sources: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/https://www.helpguide.org/find-help Production Team: Angela Walker, Loretta Milan, Jordan Robertson, Neus Alberich BueraSound: Angela WalkerVisual design: George GrantAdditional Voices: Lesley McCarthy, Paul McCarthy, Dana Roemling, Marie Kreft, and Alexander OldknowWith our thanks to the ESRC and the West Midlands Police Museum, Dr Zoe Adams, Dr Daniela Schneevogt, and Karolina PlaczyntaResourcesProfessor Tim Grant’s home page: Tim Grant - Aston Research Explorer Dr Nicci MacLeod’s home page: Nicci MacLeod - Aston Research Explorer Dr Emily Chiang’s home page: Emily Chiang - Aston Research Explorer Dr Ralph Morton’s homepage: Ralph Morton - Aston Research Explorer