The Use of Corpus Linguistics in Legal Interpretation

IF 3 1区文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS

Annual Review of Linguistics Pub Date : 2020-06-19 DOI:10.1146/ANNUREV-LINGUISTICS-050520-093942

Neal Goldfarb

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Over the past decade, the idea of using corpus linguistics in legal interpretation has attracted interest on the part of judges, lawyers, and legal academics in the United States. This review provides an introduction to this nascent movement, which is generally referred to as Law and Corpus Linguistics (LCL). After briefly summarizing LCL's origin and development, I situate LCL within legal interpretation by discussing the legal concept of ordinary meaning, which establishes the framework within which LCL operates. Next, I situate LCL within linguistics by identifying the subfields that are most relevant to LCL. I then offer a linguistic justification for an idea that is implicit in the case law and that provides important support for using corpus analysis in legal interpretation: that data about patterns of usage provide evidence of how words and other expressions are ordinarily understood. I go on to discuss linguistic issues that arise from the use of corpus linguistics in disputes that involve lexical ambiguity and categorization. Finally, I point out some challenges that the growth of LCL will present for both legal professionals and linguists.

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语料库语言学在法律解释中的应用

在过去的十年中，在法律解释中使用语料库语言学的想法引起了美国法官、律师和法律学者的兴趣。这篇综述提供了一个介绍，这一新生的运动，这通常被称为法律和语料库语言学(LCL)。在简要总结了LCL的起源和发展之后，通过对一般意义上的法律概念的讨论，将LCL置于法律解释之中，从而建立了LCL运作的框架。接下来，我通过确定与LCL最相关的子字段，将LCL置于语言学中。然后，我为一个隐含在判例法中的观点提供了一个语言学上的理由，这个观点为在法律解释中使用语料库分析提供了重要的支持:关于使用模式的数据提供了单词和其他表达通常是如何理解的证据。我将继续讨论语料库语言学在涉及词汇歧义和分类的争议中使用所产生的语言学问题。最后，我指出了LCL的发展将给法律专业人士和语言学家带来的一些挑战。

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来源期刊

Annual Review of Linguistics Multiple-

CiteScore

7.20

自引率

6.20%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Annual Review of Linguistics, in publication since 2015, covers significant developments in the field of linguistics, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and their interfaces. Reviews synthesize advances in linguistic theory, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, language change, biology and evolution of language, typology, as well as applications of linguistics in many domains.