The Executive Committee of the LSA has issued the following statement:

As professional linguists, we believe that justice would benefit from a dispassionate detailed linguistic evaluation of statements made by all parties whose voices were recorded in connection with the death of George Floyd. Linguistic science possesses a variety of tools that have been employed successfully in other forensic contexts that could resolve any questions regarding the clarity or potential ambiguity of statements that were said by the arresting officers, George Floyd, or bystanders whose voices were also recorded. The potential for misinterpretation runs high, and we appeal to both legal teams - in the name of fairness and equal justice under law - to engage the services of qualified linguists, and in particular those who specialize in the analysis of the structural properties of African American English, to evaluate all statements that were recorded surrounding this incident.