As an interdisciplinary group, with many possible contributions from different fields, TALE has two tracks:
Security, Law and Intelligence Professionals (SLIP Track) and Researcher-Expert Practitioner (REP Track).
Relevant Work Experience for the SLIP and REP Tracks
There may well be other job titles than the ones listed here. If your job title is not listed here, contact us to discuss your situation.
Typical Job Titles for SLIP Track | Typical Job Titles for REP Track |
Police Officer, Sheriff, Detective, Police Trainer | Linguist |
Private Investigator, Security Investigator | Psycholinguist, Sociolinguist |
Interviewer, Interrogator | Computational Linguist, Corpus Linguist |
Fraud Examiner, Forensic Financial Analyst/Accountant | Computer Scientist in NLP |
Digital Evidence Examiner, Forensic Document Examiner | Data Scientist, Statistician |
Court Reporter, Court Translator, Court Interpreter | Forensic Science Professor |
Intelligence Analyst (in business, security, law enforcement) | Behavioral Scientist |
Psychiatrist, Clinical Psychologist, Medical Examiner | Research Psychologist, Forensic Psychologist |
Judge, Attorney, Arbitrator, Mediator | Neuroscientist, Cognitive Scientist |
Paralegal, Legal Assistant | Law Professor |
Legal Case Manager | |
Litigation Support Professional (investigation, e-discovery) |
Relevant Education for the SLIP and REP Tracks
There may well be other academic majors than the ones listed here. If your major is not listed here, contact us to discuss your situation.
Typical Academic Majors in SLIP | Typical Academic Majors in REP |
Criminology, Criminal Justice, Justice Administration | Linguistics (all main branches) |
Police Science, Sociology | Computational Linguistics |
Military Science | Computer Science with Speciality in NLP |
Cybersecurity, Information Assurance, Digital Forensics | Computer Science with Speciality in Software Design |
National Security Studies, Executive Protection Studies | Statistics or Data Science |
Business Administration, Management | Forensic Science |
Organizational or Industrial Psychology | Behavioral Science |
Informational Technology and Management | Psychology (Cognitive, Affective, Developmental) |
Law | Linguistics of Specific Languages |
Types of Membership
In each track, there are ranks suitable for different levels of education, experience and contribution: Student, Provisional, Member and Fellow.
TALE’s General Qualifications
Membership in TALE requires that the applicant
- demonstrates professional competence, integrity, honesty and high ethical standards, as proven by public information records such as sworn testimony and character references;
- holds a B.A. or B.S. degree as a minimum educational requirement in a field that is relevant to the track;
- has made significant and positive contributions to the emerging field of forensic linguistics through scientific research, legal practice, investigative use or educational goals;
- has in no way harmed the emerging field of forensic linguistics through the misuse of method or evidence, misrepresentation of qualifications, or other ethical or professional breaches;
- meets specific requirements of the track to which applicant is applying;
- annually reviews and signs the TALE Code of Ethics;
- annually pays dues of US$50.00 (or student member annual dues of US$25.00) by June 15 of each year.
Click the blue link below to see the specific qualifications for each Track and Type of Membership.
There is a $30.00 processing fee, as TALE checks the accuracy of applications.
Send an e-mail to tale@linguisticevidence.org requesting the application form. Let us know if you would like to apply online or offline. You can complete the application form online or offline.
Online: We will send you an email with a link and a password to access the form. The email will also provide information of what you should have at hand while you are completing the form online. You will pay your application fee and dues electronically.
Offline: We will send you an attachment in our response email. You will download the TALE-2018-Application Package, and complete it using Acrobat Adobe or MS Word. Then send your completed application, CV/resume, supporting materials, and checks or money orders to cover your application fee and dues to:
TALE: The Association for Linguistic Evidence
Institute for Linguistic Evidence
25100 Trinity Drive
Georgetown, Delaware 19947 USA