93173 - Language Technology Seminar

Academic Year 2020/2021

Learning outcomes

At the end of the Seminar, the students will have acquired specific skills and knowledge pertaining to the digital treatment of linguistic data which can be exploited both in academic research and in the language industry. The students will be able to deal with topics and issues in corpus linguistics, computational linguistics and digital humanities.

Course contents

The seminar will focus on the process of creating and exploiting digital linguistic resources such as textual (written and oral) corpora and databases. Special attention will be given to methodological aspects in the collection and IT/digital treatment of linguistic data via dedicated softwares.

Readings/Bibliography

Background readings

  • Lenci, A., Montemagni, S., & Pirrelli, V. (2005). Testo e computer. Introduzione alla linguistica computazionale. Roma: Carocci.
  • Tagliamonte, S. A. (2006). Analysing sociolinguistic variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Teaching methods

The seminar is divided into two parts. The first part consists in classes introducing basic tools and methods. In the second part, the students will be engaged in practical tasks, both in class and in e-learning.

Assessment methods

By the end the Seminar, students will be assigned a practical task, to be delivered 10 days before the exam date.

Teaching tools

PowerPoint presentations and printed handouts will support most of the classes. Some IT tools and digital resources will be illustrated through the web, but other (open source) software will have to be downloaded. The IOL platform will be used for uploading the teaching materials and supporting the e-learning activities.

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Masini