Word Of The Day

Corpus Linguistics:

Corpus linguistics is the study of language based on large collections of “real life” language use stored in corpora (or corpuses)—computerized databases created for linguistic research. It is also known as corpus-based studies.

Corpus linguistics is viewed by some linguists as a research tool or methodology and by others as a discipline or theory in its own right. Sandra Kübler and Heike Zinsmeister state in their book, “Corpus Linguistics and Linguistically Annotated Corpora,” that “the answer to the question whether corpus linguistics is a theory or a tool is simply that it can be both. It depends on how corpus linguistics is applied.”

Although the methods used in corpus linguistics were first adopted in the early 1960s, the term itself didn’t appear until the 1980s. [ThoughtCo.]

Noted in “Pro-tip: When a Judge Asks You to Make a Corpus-Based Argument, Don’t Say Corpus Linguistics is Stupid,” James Hellpern, The Juris Lab:

This is the second time that a Circuit court panel has ordered the parties to provide supplemental briefing in order to provide the court with corpus-based arguments. As a handy practice tip, it’s safe to assume that if a judges specifically requests corpus-based arguments, she has already concluded that corpus linguistics is a helpful tool at least in theory. She may have questions about whether corpus linguistics would be helpful in the particular case before her or she may lack the confidence in her own ability to navigate and interpret the databases herself, but if she is actually ordering parties to devote time and resources making corpus-based arguments, it’s safe to assume that she’s already sold on the law and corpus linguistics movement as a whole.

This happens to be in connection with a 2^nd Amendment case.