LING/C SC/PSYC 408/508
Computational Techniques for Linguists
Fall 2026
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This is a introductory course to computers and general programming useful for linguists (and non-engineers). No background is assumed. Taught from the ground up with historical context, which will help to de-mystify many things, by a computer scientist who also thinks like a linguist, you will develop an understanding of why things are the way they are (spoiler: sometimes for backwards compatibility with things that have long disappeared from relevance, sometimes entirely by accident). Topics include the useful fundamentals of Linux, the Terminal (Shell usage and programming), Python with NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit) and matplotlib (for charts/graphs), the dot language (for networks) and web technologies such as HTML, CSS, Javascript and Apache2. In addition to homework exercises, a simple term project incorporating some technology introduced from the class is required. Students are encouraged to create a deliverable that incorporate material/data that they are interested in, e.g. for their graduate research, hobbies or other interests. New! for this semester, we will discuss how to incorporate and leverage ChatGPT's ability (in the free version, without the Code Interpreter) to help rough out Python code. Examples:
Textbook and Software No textbook, no purchase of AI tokens is required. All reading material will be made available online. All software used in this class will be freely available. Software Students will be expected to have their own laptops and have administrator permissions to install apps for use. |
