Overview of computational approaches to language use. Core topics include mathematical and logical foundations, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Special topics may include speech processing, dialog systems, machine translation, information extraction, and information retrieval. Statistical and traditional approaches are included. Students will develop familiarity with the literature and tools of the field.

• Make students familiar with the range of tools and techniques used in computational linguistics. Show them where to find the literature in this field, and give them confidence in reading it. In short, improve their abilities as computational linguists.
• Give students the ability to look at a computational linguistics task and identify useful techniques for solving it. Encourage them to think creatively and give them experience in planning and conducting experiments in this field. In short, improve their abilities as researchers.
• Encourage students to collaborate with others in different fields. Because this course is interdisciplinary, computer scientists end up working with linguists and psycho-linguists, which is exactly what happens in computational linguistics all the time.

CSE507