Talks

2026

Qiao, G., Adams, B., Nini, A. & Dunn, J. ‘Does machine-assisted production alter grammatical structures?’. Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting, New Orleans Marriott, New Orleans, Louisiana, US. 01/2026.

2025

Qiao, G., Adams, B., Dunn, J. & Nini, A. ‘Writing with machines: How AI assistance shapes linguistic structures’. Annual Conference of the Linguistic Society of New Zealand, Massey University, Wellington, NZ. 27/11/2025.

Nini, A. ‘A forensic linguistic analysis of the Jack the Ripper letters’. Forensic Linguistics and History Symposium, Aston University, Birmingham, UK. 07/11/2025.

Nini, A. ‘The Language Model as a mathematical model of the lexicogrammar in Cognitive Linguistics’. Sheffield LingLunch seminar, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. 08/10/2025.

Tompkinson, J. & Nini, A. ‘Assessing the suitability of forensic authorship analysis methodologies for speech data’. The 33rd Annual Conference of the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics (IAFPA), Leiden University, The Hague, Netherlands. 21/07/2025.

Nini, A. ‘Examining an author’s individual grammar’. Comparative Literature Goes Digital Workshop, Digital Humanities 2025. Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal. 14/07/2025.
[Github repository]

Barlow, S. & Nini, A. ‘A corpus analysis of idiolectal n-grams’. 13th International Corpus Linguistics Conference (CL2025), Aston University/Birmingham City University/University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. 30/06/2025.

Nini, A. ‘Language models as cognitively realistic mathematical models of grammar’. Invited plenary talk at the 13th International Quantitative Linguistics Conference (QUALICO 2025), Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. 28/06/2025.

Zeng, B. & Nini, A. ‘Can AI fool a forensic linguist? Detecting AI impersonation of an individual’s language’. Investigating Human and AI Creativity and Imitation Symposium, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK. 06/06/2025.

Nini, A. ‘Interpretable cognitive linguistic authorship analysis using the Likelihood Ratio framework’. Invited talk at the Department of English and Communication. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China (online). 12/02/2025.
[Watch]

Nini, A. ‘The use of the likelihood ratio in forensic authorship analysis cases’. Workshop for German and Swiss federal and state security agencies, Germany. 16-17/01/2025.

2024

Nini, A. ‘Small language models for human-interpretable authorship analysis’. Invited talk at the Ministry of Defence, UK. 19/09/2024.

Tompkinson, J. & Nini, A. ‘Evaluating the usefulness of embedding phonetic representations into an authorship analysis-based framework for the comparison of spoken data’. 5th European Conference of the IAFLL – International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguists, Aston University, Birmingham, UK. 26/06/2024.

Cameron, M., Nini, A. & Bannard, C. ‘Linguistic Individuality in Lexicogrammatical Alternations’. 5th European Conference of the IAFLL – International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguists, Aston University, Birmingham, UK. 26/06/2024.

Brown, G., Nini, A. & Kirchhübel, C. ‘Likelihood ratio based authorship verification methods applied to forensic voice comparison tasks’. 5th European Conference of the IAFLL – International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguists, Aston University, Birmingham, UK. 26/06/2024.

Barlow, S. & Nini, A. ‘The idiolectal information in long character n-grams: An experiment using paraphrasing’. 5th European Conference of the IAFLL – International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguists, Aston University, Birmingham, UK. 26/06/2024.

Nini, A. ‘Cognitive Linguistic forensic authorship analysis using the likelihood ratio framework’. 5th European Conference of the IAFLL – International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguists, Aston University, Birmingham, UK. 26/06/2024.

Nini, A. ‘How Linguistics can help to eliminate unnecessary complexity in modern Natural Language Processing’. Invited keynote at the Interdisciplinary Perspectives: Bridging Sociological Studies in the Digital Age conference. King’s College London, London, UK. 11/06/2024.

Nini, A. ‘A more interpretable method for the analysis of an author’s language’. Invited keynote at the Corpus Linguistics Symposium: Style and Authorship. University of Leeds, Leeds, UK. 07/06/2024.

Nini, A. ‘Grammar is a biometric’. Invited keynote at the World Police Summit. Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 07/03/2024.
[Abstract]

2023

Nini, A. ‘A formal model of lexicogrammatical individuality’. 16th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany. 10/08/2023.

Nini, A. ‘The Statistical Approximation Hypothesis: A Cognitive Linguistic explanation for the effectiveness of function word frequency’. Digital Literary Stylistics Special Interest Group Workshop, Digital Humanities 2023, University of Graz, Graz, Austria. 10/07/2023.

Nini, A. ‘Why do function word frequencies vary across individuals? Evidence in favour of The Statistical Approximation Hypothesis’. 12th International Corpus Linguistics Conference (CL2023), Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK. 04/07/2023.

Nini, A. ‘The use of authorship profiling evidence in court’. Invited talk at the MEU Linguistics Society. Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey (online). 26/01/2023.
[Watch]

2022

Nini, A. ‘Forensic authorship analysis and the Dickens Code Project’. Invited talk at the Department of English. University of Buckingham, Buckingham, UK. 23/11/2022.

Nini, A. ‘From Jack the Ripper to cybercrime: linguistics as a forensic science’. Invited talk at the Department of Linguistics Colloquium. University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany. 17/11/2022.

Nini, A. ‘Forensic authorship profiling as court evidence: The Ayia Napa rape statements’. Invited opening talk at the VI Jornadas (In)formativas de Lingüística Forense. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. 20/10/2022.

Nini, A. ‘A theory of linguistic individuality for forensic linguistics’. Invited talk at the Department of Language and Linguistic Science Colloquium. University of York, York, UK. 12/10/2022.

Nini, A. ‘Using the likelihood ratio framework in real authorship identification casework: The General Impostors with Writeprints method’. 4th European Conference of the IAFLL – International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguists, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. 20/07/2022.

Nini, A. ‘Authorship profiling for forensic purposes’. Invited talk at the Ministry of Defence, UK. 12/07/2022.

Nini, A. ‘A theory of linguistic individuality’. Invited talk at the Oberseminar series. Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany. 15/06/2022.

Nini, A. ‘A forensic linguistic analysis of the Jack the Ripper letters’. Invited talk at the Forensic Linguistics Seminar Series. University of Porto, Porto, Portugal (online) 20/01/2022.
[Watch]

2021

Nini, A. ‘Profiling evidence in court: The Ayia Napa rape case‘. Invited talk at the Germanic Society for Forensic Linguistics Lecture Circle (online). 01/11/2021

Nini, A. ‘The use of forensic linguistics for investigative purposes’. Invited talk at the Alan Turing Institute (Defence and Security) (online). 27/10/2021.

Nini, A. & Ishihara, S. ‘The likelihood of lexicogrammatical overlap’. IAFL15: The 15th Conference of the International Association of Forensic Linguists. Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, Aston University, Birmingham, UK (online). 14/09/2021.

Nini, A., Cameron, M. & Murphy, C. ‘Experimental evidence on the individuality of lexicogrammar’. International Construction Grammar Conference 11. University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium (online). 20/08/2021.

Nini, A. ‘A forensic linguistic analysis of the Jack the Ripper letters’. Invited talk at the Whitechapel Society (online). 07/08/2021.

Nini, A. ‘Forensic linguistics and shorthand decoding’. Invited talk at Decoding Dickens: Contexts, Inspirations, Approaches (online). 23/07/2021.
[Watch] [Slides]

The 2nd Roundtable on Practices and Standards in Forensic Authorship Analysis. University of Manchester, Manchester, UK (online). 07/07/2021.
[Watch]

Nini, A. ‘A formal theory of idiolect and its forensic applications’. Invited lecture at the Philological Society AGM. University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (online). 12/06/2021.
[Abstract] [Watch]

Nini, A. ‘The Ayia Napa rape statements’. Invited talk at the International Approaches to Forensic Linguistic Casework online symposium. Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, Aston University, Birmingham, UK (online). 04/02/2021.
[Watch]

Nini, A. ‘Investigating Jack the Ripper’s idiolect’. Invited talk at the Preston Linguistics Circle, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK (online). 21/01/2021.

2020

Nini, A. ‘Introduction to investigative forensic linguistics’. Invited talk at Rugby School, Rugby, UK (online). 10/11/2020.

Nini, A. ‘Being Jack the Ripper: A corpus study on linguistic individuality’. Invited talk at the Graduate Program in Applied Linguistics (LAEL) webinars series, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, Brazil. 27/08/2020.
[Watch]

Nini, A., Cameron, M. & Murphy, C. ‘Is each person’s lexicogrammatical system unique? An experimental study on linguistic individuality’. UK Cognitive Linguistics Conference 2020 online. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. 29/07/2020.
[Abstract] [Slides]

Nini, A. ‘Authorship clustering for the dark web: Methodological and theoretical remarks’. Invited talk at the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, Aston University, Birmingham, UK. 06/03/2020.

2019

Nini, A. ‘Introduction to Forensic Linguistics’. Guest lecture at the University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany. 10/12/2019.

Nini, A. ‘Who wrote the Jack the Ripper letters? A forensic linguistic analysis’. Work in progress seminars. Invited talk at the Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. 02/10/2019.
[Abstract] [Slides]

Fonteyn, L. & Nini, A. ‘Individuality in syntactic variation: an investigation of the 17th-century gerund alternation’. Symposium on Representations, Usage and Social Embedding in Language Change. University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. 21/08/2019.
[Abstract] [Slides]

Nini, A. & Grieve, J. ‘Frequency-free authorship attribution: Testing the n-gram tracing method’. CL2019. Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK. 24/07/2019.
[Abstract] [Slides]

Nini, A. ‘The Jack the Ripper case and the evidence for idiolectal lexical bundles’. ICAME 40. Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. 03/06/2019.
[Abstract][Slides]

The 1st Roundtable on Practices and Standards in Forensic Authorship Analysis. University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. 15/05/2019.
[Watch]

2018

Nini, A. ‘Who wrote the Jack the Ripper letters? A stylometric analysis’. Digital Humanities Congress 2018. The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. 06/09/2018.
[Abstract] [Slides]

Fonteyn, L. & Nini, A. ‘Investigating the ing-form network in the idiolects of 17th century authors’. ICCG10: Tenth International Conference on Construction Grammar, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France. 17/07/2018. [>]

2017

Grieve, J., Carmody, E., Clarke, I., Gideon, H., Heini, A., Nini, A., Waibel, E. ‘Attributing the Bixby letter using n-gram tracing’. 9th International Corpus Linguistics Conference, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. 26/07/2017. [>]

Nini, A. ‘Profiling the anonymous authors of malicious forensic texts’. 13th Biennial Conference of the International Association of Forensic Linguists, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. 12/07/2017. [>]

Grieve, J., Montgomery, C., Nini, A., Guo, D. ‘Assessing the use of social media for mapping lexical variation in British English’. International Conference on Language Variation in Europe – ICLAVE 9, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain. 06/06/2017. [>]

Nini, A. ‘Social media and the new frontiers of forensic authorship profiling’. Invited plenary talk at MFIL – Manchester Forum in Linguistics 2017. University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. 28/04/2017. [>]

2016

Nini, A. ‘The Multidimensional Analysis Tagger, or how I stopped worrying and created a tagger using regular expressions’. Invited talk at 2nd BAAL Corpus Linguistics SIG Event 2016. Coventry University, Coventry, UK. 10/12/2016. [>]

Rocchi, J., Nini, A., Saad, D., Grieve, J. ‘Dynamics and equilibria in Twitter: Analyzing geographical lexical spread’. IT Open Research Forum Workshop, London School of Economics, London, UK. 19/05/2016.

2015

Grieve, J., Nini, A., Guo, D., Kasakoff, A. ‘Using social media to map double modals in modern American English’. New Ways of Analyzing Variation 44, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. 25/10/2015. [>]

Grieve, J., Nini, A., Guo, D., Kasakoff, A. ‘Recent changes in word formation strategies in American social media’. Corpus Linguistics 2015, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK. 22/07/2015. [>]

Nini, A. ‘Register variation in malicious forensic texts’. The International Association of Forensic Linguists 12th Biennial Conference. Guandong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China. 07/07/2015. [>]

Nini, A. A forensic linguistics analysis of the Sony hack texts. Invited talk at the Centre for Doctoral Training in Cybersecurity. University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. 07/05/2015. [>]

2014

Grieve, J., Guo, D., Kasakoff, A. & Nini, A. ‘Big-data dialectology: Analyzing lexical spread in a multi-billion word corpus of American English’. AACL 2014. Flagstaff, Arizona, US. 28/09/2014. [>]

Nini, A. The Multidimensional Analysis Tagger – A tool for genre and text type analysis. Invited talk at the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. 12/06/2014. [>]

Nini, A. ‘The Multidimensional Analysis Tagger – A tool for genre and text type analysis’. ICAME 35 – Corpus Linguistics, Context and Culture. Nottingham University, Nottingham, UK. 01/05/2014. [>]

2013

Nini, A. ‘Authorship profiling as a diagnostic process’. The International Association of Forensic Linguists 11th Biennial Conference. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico. 26/06/2013. [>]

Grieve, J. & Nini, A. ‘The authorship of the Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms’. Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting. Boston, US, 03/01/2013. [>]

2012

Nini, A. ‘Codal variation analysis as a forensic tool’. 3rd European Conference of the International Association of Forensic Linguists. University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. 17/10/2012. [>]

2011

Nini, A. ‘Systemic functional linguistics: Implications for authorship analysis’. 38th International Systemic Functional Congress. University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal. 25/07/2011. [>]

Nini, A. ‘Style, systems and genre: A theoretical base for stylistic approaches to authorship analysis’. The International Association of Forensic Linguists 10th Biennial Conference. Aston University, Birmingham, UK. 13/07/2011. [>]