Welcome to Black Bird Linguistic Consulting. BBLC was founded in 2015 to meet the needs to those who have recognized that language is a contributing factor in much of life.

Linguistics is the study of patterns in language and language use.  To use an analogy: it is to the study of languages what mathematics is to the study of the natural sciences: linguistics is the foundation that makes other studies involving language and languages possible and systematic.

Available services include but are not necessarily limited to the following:

• Enrichment guidance for intellectually gifted individuals of any age: want to find out what kind of gymnastics your mind is capable of? Let’s get on that.
• Analyses of and education in communication in office or other corporate settings to move toward greater employee engagement, collegiality, productivity, professionalism, collaboration: we’ve all had the experience of interpersonal communication inhibiting work relationships, but there are alternatives.
• Analyses of and tutoring for those conducting language studies in particular fields, such as medicine or law: find out how language and an area of expertise can be mutually enhancing.
• Analyses and tutoring for those working with minority populations: who, what, where, why, and how.
• Teaching/tutoring for a variety of subject areas: anything K-12, and ask about other options; I also have contacts among some of the most capable thinkers on the planet, so if there’s anything I can’t provide, I might know someone who knows that you need to know.

Some examples of projects:

•  Elicitation of some of the first written material by speakers of a minority language; results printed and used to encourage literacy development in the community.
• Fun/educational tools for minority language: statistical analysis on letter distribution in a minority language in order to create a Bananagrams-like game for the community.
• Medical discourse analysis: linguistic discourse analysis (not critical discourse analysis) for a major medical center. The analysis suggested ways in which the website could be amended to communicate with patients more effectively, ways in which doctors could better understand and respond to the implications of what patients were telling doctors, and what patterns, or lack thereof, in figurative language indicated about patients’ experiences of their illnesses, treatments, and interactions with medical personnel and caregivers.
• Academic preparation: consultation with individuals to address weaknesses in academic preparation, by beefing up writing and research skills and helping those individuals to gain or improve critical thinking skills.
• Writing system analysis: orthographic recommendations to minority communities in Indonesia who were updating their orthographies to represent their orthographies more accurately, which required some phonological analysis in collaboration with native speakers. The changes also enable the members of the community to have orthographies that are easier to use with current technologies, such as texting.

In addition, because I am a licensed speech-language pathologist, habilitational and rehabilitational language services are also available to those who live in a state where I’m currently licensed to practice (PA and AK, at the moment). Would you like to have your loved one’s language and cognition analyzed individually for both strengths and areas where improvement would be possible? I use all of my training in linguistics, cognition, and speech-language pathology to provide customized reports that are tailored specifically to your loved one’s needs.

If you would like linguistic consulting services, please do not hesitate to contact us at blckbrdlinguistics@gmail.com for rates and availability.