About Illocution Inc.

First and foremost, we are language experts. We specialize in content-based analysis of Big Data. There is a wealth of information housed in the ever-expanding universe of text-based language. We mine the linguistic artifacts of our personal and professional lives, the electronic prose of the computer-mediated world in which we live. We discover and leverage important content and trends buried in large corpora of unstructured text, offering insight essential to your business, giving you a competitive edge.

Why are we different than all the other folks jumping on the "big data" bandwagon?

The short answer is: We investigate Language. Here are the only truisms that apply to Language: It is infinitely variable, innovative and ever-changing. Fortunately for us, language is also a habit and as creatures of habit, humans are comfortable operating within a set of boundaries or rules that make communication a seamless part of our personal and professional lives. But for all of it's apparent rules, we can tell you that in language usage, the magic happens in the exceptions. Today's outliers are tomorrow's trends. We measure not only the norm, but what lies outside the norm. We also know that important content is not simply about what is being said, but also who is saying it and to whom, when it's being said, as well as layered linguistic context, all working together simultaneously. At Ill Inc., we understand variability. We value context. We account for these linguistic facts because we have a comprehensive approach to our subject matter: Text-based language as the centerpiece to Big Data analytics.

Discovering crucial information and trends in big data is not simply a processing problem. It's not simply an issue of scale. Understanding and insight cannot be automated. We combine the best practices of computational methods and human expertise to provide you with actionable knowledge. So whether you have your own collection of natural language text you need measured and investigated to answer a particular research question, or if you're in need of industry intelligence and a relevant collection of text that addresses your needs, we should talk.

What's with the name you ask?

Our name pays homage to our background in empirical linguistics. Illocutionary force refers to the true intent behind our words. For example, if I stroll into a mandatory, company-wide business meeting 30 minutes late and the CEO stops talking and asks me "What time is it?" I would do well not to look at my watch and say "It's 9:30 a.m." More than likely, her true intent was "this meeting started half an hour ago. Nice of you to finally show up." Illocution is about how context intersects with language, giving meaning and potency to the way we communicate.