Dr Diana Eades

Biography

Dr Diana Eades specialises in critical sociolinguistics, language in the legal process, and intercultural communication, particularly involving Australian Aboriginal people who speak varieties of English. She has more than 40 years experience in research, teaching and practical applications of her scholarly work.

Her previous positions include lecturer and senior lecturer at UNE, and associate professor at the University of Hawai'i. Diana has an extensive publications list, which includes the 2023 co-authored monograph Forensic Linguistics in Australia (Cambridge University Press), the 2016 co-edited book Discursive Constructions of Consent in the Legal Process (Oxford University Press), the 2013 book Aboriginal Ways of Using English (Aboriginal Studies Press), the 2010 textbook Sociolinguistics and the Legal Process (Multilingual Matters), the 2008 book Courtroom Talk and Neocolonial Control Mouton de Gruyter), the 1995 edited book Language in Evidence (New South Wales University Press), and the 1992 lawyers' handbook Aboriginal English and the Law (Queensland Law Society).

She has provided expert linguistic evidence in the following tribunals and courts (in criminal and civil matters): Federal Court of Australia; Supreme Courts of Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory; District Court of New South Wales; Magistrate’s Court of Western Australia; Queensland Court of Appeal; Administrative Appeal Tribunal; Criminal Justice Commission Queensland. Cases with far-reaching consequences include:

• Western Australia v Gibson 2014 WASC 240, which led to an investigation by the Western Australia Corruption and Crime Commission and ongoing changes in police interviews of Aboriginal people;
• Wootton & Ors v Queensland & Anor[2016] FCA 1457, aka ‘Palm Island Racial Discrimination Case’, Australia’s largest racial discrimination case;
• Pearson v Queensland [2020] No 2, FCA 619 aka ‘Queensland Stolen Wages Case’, Australia’s largest human rights case;
• (ASIC) Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Select AFSL Pty Ltd (No 2) [2022] FCA 786, which recognised for the first time in civil law the Aboriginal use of gratuitous concurrence and the importance of contextual factors in interviews which can lead to interviewees giving minimal answers of apparent agreement that are not consent.

Dr Eades has been President, Vice-President and Secretary of the International Association of Forensic Linguists, and Vice-President of the Australian Linguistics Society. From 2008-2014 she was co-editor of The International Journal of Speech Language and the Law, and is on the Editorial Boards of several journals. She was appointed by the Chief Justice of Hawai'i to the state Supreme Court Committee on Equality and Access to the Courts (1999-2002, 2002-2005). In 2010 she was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Dr Eades is a popular speaker to a diverse range of professional groups on aspects of intercultural communication with Aboriginal people, and communication practices within the legal process. While this includes educational, health and welfare groups, her work is of particular interest to the legal profession. Her list of invited presentations over 4 decades includes:

judicial organisations in 4 states and the Northern Territory, as well as the national level:

Australian Institute of Judicial Administration national conference; Australian Migration and Refugee Review Tribunal; Federal Court of Australia Judges Education Day; Judicial Commission of New South Wales, National Council of Australasian Tribunals conference, National Judicial College of Australia’s Solution-Focused Judging Program, Witness Assessment Programs and Judging in Remote Locations Program; National Native Title Tribunal; New South Wales Magistrates Court annual conference; New South Wales Magistrates Court regional conferences; New South Wales Supreme Court annual conference; Northern Territory Supreme Court Language and Law conferences; Queensland Magistrates Court annual conference; Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court; South Australian Courts Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Seminar; Western Australia Chief Justice Judicial Program for Cultural Diversity

Lawyers in 3 states:  at annual conferences, Continuing Professional Developments seminars and similar

Legal Aid New South Wales; New South Wales Aboriginal Legal Services; New South Wales Bar Association; New South Wales Community Legal Centres; New South Wales Crown Solicitors Office; New South Wales Department of Family and Community Services Legal Conference; New South Wales Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions; New South Wales Law Society; Queensland Bar Association; Queensland Legal Aid; The Piddington Society; Western Australia Aboriginal Legal Services; Western Australia Legal Aid

Dr Eades is also co-convenor of the Communication of Rights Group. In November 2015 the Communication of Rights Group release Guidelines for Communicating Rights to Non-Native Speakers of English in Australia, England and Wales and the USA. These guidelines can be found HERE.

Qualifications

BA (Hons) (Asian Studies) (ANU), PhD (Queensland), FAHA

Publications

Books

Eades, Diana, Helen Fraser and Georgina Heydon (2023) Forensic Linguistics in Australia: Origins, Progress and Prospects. In Series Cambridge Elements in Forensic Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ehrlich, Susan, Diana Eades and Janet Ainsworth  (eds.) 2016. Discursive Constructions of Consent in the Legal Process. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Eades, D. 2013. Aboriginal Ways of Using English. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.

Eades, D. 2010. Sociolinguistics and the Legal Process. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Eades, D. 2008. Courtroom Talk and Neocolonial Control. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Eades, D. 1992. Aboriginal English and the Law: Communicating with Aboriginal English Speaking Clients: A Handbook for Legal Practitioners. Brisbane: Queensland Law Society.

Eades, D. 1976. The Dharawal and Dhurga Languages of the New South Wales South Coast. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.

Siegel, J.,  Lynch, J,. and  Eades. D. (eds.) 2007. Linguistic Description, History and Development: Linguistic Indulgence in Memory of Terry Crowley. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Eades, D. and  Arends. J. (eds.) 2004. Special section: Language analysis and determination of nationality. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 11(2).

Book Chapters (since 2000)

Eades, Diana and Susan Ehrlich 2017. Sociolinguistic perspectives on consent in the legal process. In Meredith Marra and Paul Warren (eds) Linguist at Work: Festschrift for Janet Holmes, 52-68, Wellington: Victoria University Press.

Eades, Diana 2016. Theorising language in sociolinguistics and the law: (How) can sociolinguistics have an impact on inequality in the criminal justice process? In Nikolas Coupland (ed.) Sociolinguistics: Theoretical Debates. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 367-389.

Eades, Diana 2016. Erasing context in the courtroom construal of consent. In Susan Ehrlich, Diana Eades and Janet Ainsworth (eds.), Discursive Constructions of Consent in the Legal Process. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 71-90.

Ehrlich, Susan, and Diana Eades 2016 Introduction: Linguistic and discursive dimensions of consent. In Susan Ehrlich, Diana Eades and Janet Ainsworth (eds.), Discursive Constructions of Consent in the Legal Process. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1-20.

Eades, D. 2015. Judicial understandings of Aboriginality and language use in criminal cases. In Peter Toner (ed.) Strings of Connectedness: Essays in Honour of Ian Keen. Canberra: ANU Press, 27-51.

Eades, D. 2014. Aboriginal English. In Harold Koch and Rachel Nordlinger (eds) The Languages and Linguistics of Australia: A Comprehensive Guide. Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 417-447.

Eades, D. 2013. Assessment in asylum-related language analysis. In Antony Kunnan (ed.) The Companion to Language Assessment. Wiley-Blackwell, 404-420.

Eades, D. 2012. Intercultural communication in the law. In Christina Paulston, Scott Kiesling and Elizabeth Rangel (eds.) The Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 408-429.

Eades, D. 2011. Sociolinguistics and the Law. In The Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics edited by Rajend Mesthrie, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 396-412.

Eades, D. 2010. Language analysis and asylum cases. Routledge Handbook of Forensic Linguistics. edited by Malcolm Coulthard and Alison Johnson. London: Routledge, 411-422

Eades, D. 2009. Using English in the legal process. In The Routledge Companion to English Language Studies edited by Joan Swann and Janet Maybin. London: Routledge, 196-207.

Eades, D. 2007. Aboriginal English in the criminal justice system. In Leitner, Gerhard and Ian Malcolm (eds.), The Habitat of Australia's Aboriginal Languages: Past, Present, and Future. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 299-326.

Eades, D. 2007. Understanding Aboriginal silence in legal contexts. In Kotthoff, Helga and Helen Spencer-Oatey (eds.), Handbook of Intercultural Communication. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 285-301.

Eades, D. 2004. Beyond difference and domination?: Intercultural communication in legal contexts. In Paulston, Christina and Scott Kiesling (eds.), Intercultural Discourse and Communication: The Essential Readings. Oxford: Blackwell, 304-316.

Eades, D. 2003. The politics of misunderstanding in the legal process: Aboriginal English in Queensland. In House, Juliane, Gabriele Kasper and Steven Ross (eds.), Misunderstanding in Social Life: Discourse Approaches to Problematic Talk. London: Longman. 196-223.

Eades, D. 2002. Evidence given in unequivocal terms: Gaining consent of Aboriginal young people in court. In Cotterill, Janet (ed.), Language in the Legal Process. London: Palgrave, 161-196.

Journal Articles (since 2000)

Bowen, A., & Eades, D. (2022). Forensic linguistics and pseudoscience: How to recognise the difference. Precedent, 172, 35-39.

Eades, Diana 2018. Communicating the right to silence to Aboriginal suspects: Lessons from Western Australia v Gibson. Journal of Judicial Administration 28: 4-21.

Eades, Diana 2016. Judicial understandings of Aboriginality and language use. The Judicial Review 12: 471-490.

Eades, D. 2015. Taking evidence from Aboriginal witnesses speaking English: Some sociolinguistic considerations. Precedent 126: 44-48.

Eades, D. 2012. Communication with Aboriginal Speakers of English in the Legal Process. Australian Journal of Linguistics Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 473-489.

Eades, D. 2012. The social consequences of language ideologies in courtroom cross examination. Language in Society 41(4): 471-497.

Eades, D. 2009. Testing the claims of asylum seekers: The role of language analysis. Language Assessment Quarterly 6(1): 30-40.

Eades, D. 2009. Risky narratives in courtroom testimony. Comment on Shonna Trinch's "Risky subjects: Narrative, literary testimonio and legal testimony". Dialectical Anthropology 34(2): 209-213.

Eades, D. 2009. Comment on Blommaert's "Language, asylum, and the national order". Current Anthropology 50(4): 427-428.

Eades, D.  2008. Telling and retelling your story in court: Questions, assumptions, and  intercultural implications. Current Issues in Criminal Justice 20(2):  209-230.

Eades, D.  2008. From expertise to advocacy: Forensic linguistics and advocacy in asylum  seeker cases. In Law and Language: Theory and Society, eds. Frances  Olsen, Alexander Lorz and Dieter Stein. Düsseldorf:  Düsseldorf University Press, 87-118.

Eades, D.  2008. Language and Disadvantage before the law. In Dimensions of  Forensic Linguistics. edited by Teresa M. Turell and John Gibbons.  Amsterdam: John Benjamins 179-195.

Eades, D. 2006. Lexical struggle in court: Aboriginal Australians vs the state. Journal of Sociolinguistics 10(2): 153-181.

Eades, D. 2005. Applied linguistics and language analysis in asylum seeker cases. Applied Linguistics 26(4): 503-526.

Eades, D. 2004. Understanding Aboriginal English in the legal system: A critical sociolinguistics approach. Applied Linguistics 25(4): 491-512.

Eades, D. and  Arends, J. 2004. Using language analysis in the determination of national origin of asylum seekers: An introduction. International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 11(2): 179-199.

Eades, D. 2003. The participation of second language and second dialect speakers in the legal system. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 23: 113-133.

Eades, D.,  Fraser, H.,  Siegel, J,. McNamara, T., and  Baker, B. 2003. Linguistic identification in the determination of nationality: A preliminary report. Language Policy 2(2): 179-199.

Eades, D. 2003. "I don't think the lawyers were communicating with me": Misunderstanding cultural differences in communicative style. Emory Law Journal 52: 1109-1134.

Eades, D. 2000. "I don't think it's an answer to the question": Silencing Aboriginal witnesses in court. Language in Society 29 (2): 161-196.

Encyclopedia Entries (since 2000)

Eades, D. 2011. Forensic Linguistics. In Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences. In P. Hogan (ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 313-314.

Eades, D. 2006. Interviewing and examining vulnerable witnesses. In Brown, Keith (ed.) Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. 2nd Ed. Vol 5. Elsevier: Oxford, 772-778.

Eades, D. 2001. Discourse analysis and the law. In Mesthrie, Rajend (ed.), Concise Encyclopaedia of Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Elsevier Science, 231-3.