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CALIGULA, H.A.L, 1984, AND THE LEGACY OF JUSTICE
SCALIA:
HOW “CORPUS LINGUISTICS” MAY BE CHANGING THE INTERPRETATION OF
LEGAL TEXTSHuman Language Technology Conference
December 11, 2019
CALIGULA’S LAWS
▶ “By incorporating corpus methods
into the search for ordinary
meaning, we can turn a largely
intuitive and opaque inquiry into a
transparent one.”
Textualism: “The words of a governing text are of paramount concern, and what they convey in their context is what the text means.”
TRADITIONAL METHODS OF INTERPRETATION
Purpose-driven interpretations
What is corpus linguistics? The analysis of text through computing power . . .
Corpus Linguistics uses large-scale sets
of data to glean evidence of how words
are actually used. It’s an empirical
technique that arises from the advent of
huge amounts of digitized text and leaps
forward in computer power.
Smith v. United States (1993)
Does the phrase “uses . . . a firearm. . . .during and in relation to any drug trafficking crime” encompass trading a firearm for drugs?
Corpus Linguistics: The Promise
Three steps: 1. Structuring the query
2. Reviewing the results for relevance3. Reviewing surrounding words (“collocation data”) (“KWIC”)
Corpus Linguistics: The Critique
Corpus Linguistics: The Future