Edward Gibson: Human Language, Psycholinguistics, Syntax, Grammar & LLMs | Lex Fridman Podcast #426
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Episode Highlights
Legal Complexity
Legal language, often referred to as legalese, is notoriously complex and difficult to understand. explains that this complexity arises from the use of center embeddings, where definitions are inserted between the subject and verb, making sentences harder to read 1. Interestingly, even lawyers themselves do not prefer this convoluted style and find it challenging to comprehend 1. suggests that the complexity might be performative, creating a barrier that necessitates legal expertise 2.
Simplifying Legalese
To address the challenges of legalese, and his colleague Eric Martinez analyzed various legal texts to identify problematic features. They found that legal documents often contain a high frequency of center-embedded clauses and low-frequency words, which significantly hinder comprehension 3. Despite past efforts by several U.S. presidents to simplify legal language, the lack of understanding of its complexities has made these attempts largely ineffective 4. Gibson believes that a psycholinguistic approach is necessary to truly simplify legalese and make it more accessible.