C O M P U TAT IO N A L

LINGU IS T IC S
Prof. A d e le k e A . F a k oya
 WHAT IS COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS?

Computational linguistics is a field

at the intersection of computer
science and linguistics.
It is focused on the development of
computational models and algorithms for
understanding, analyzing, and generating
human language.
There are several language-related aspects within
computational linguistics:
1. NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING
NLP is a subfield of computational linguistics that deals
with the interaction between computers and human
(natural) languages.

It involves the development of algorithms and models to

enable computers to understand, interpret, and generate
human language.
LET’S GET DOWN TO BASICS

What is a computational model?

In simple language, a computational
model is like a virtual representation
or simulation of a real-world system
or process that a computer can
understand and manipulate.
It's a way for computers to mimic
how something works, helping us
understand, analyze, or predict
things without directly interacting
with the real world.
Computational models are used in
various fields, from predicting
weather patterns to simulating the
behavior of molecules in chemistry.
They're like digital tools that
help us explore and understand
complex systems by running
simulations on a computer.
EXAMPLES OF COMPUTATIONAL MODELS
1. WEATHER PREDICTION MODEL:

A computer program simulating the earth's

atmosphere to predict weather conditions.
It takes into account various factors like
temperature, humidity, and wind patterns.
2. ECONOMIC SIMULATION MODEL
Models that simulate economic
systems to analyze factors such
as supply and demand,
inflation, and market trends.
3. TRAFFIC FLOW MODEL
Simulations that mimic the
movement of vehicles on roads to
analyze traffic patterns, congestion,
and optimize transportation
systems.
4. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL MODEL
Models used to simulate the spread of
diseases within populations, helping to
understand and predict the impact of
interventions such as vaccination or social
distancing measures.
TASKS
Using CHAT-GPT, attempt the following:

What are algorithms?

What are computational models?
Give examples.
2. MORPHOLOGY

Morphology is the study of the

structure and formation of
words.
In computational linguistics, morphological
analysis involves developing algorithms to
identify and analyse the smallest units of
meaning in a language, such as prefixes,
suffixes, and roots.
TASK
Explain the following:
Word-root
Prefixes
Suffixes
3. SYNTAX

Syntax focuses on the arrangement

of words to form grammatically
correct sentences.
Computational linguists work on parsing
techniques to analyse the syntactic
structure of sentences and understand the
relationships between different linguistic
elements.
TASK

What is parsing?
4. SEMANTICS

Semantics is concerned with

the meaning of words, phrases,
and sentences.
In computational linguistics, semantic
analysis involves developing algorithms to
understand the meaning of text, which can
be challenging due to the nuances and
ambiguities in natural language.
TASK

Define and exemplify the following:

•Nuance
•Ambiguity
5. PRAGMATICS

Pragmatics deals with the use of language in context,

considering the speaker's intentions and the effects of the
communication.
In computational linguistics,
incorporating pragmatic knowledge is
important for developing systems that
can understand and generate
contextually appropriate language.
TASK

What is pragmatic knowledge?

6. SPEECH PROCESSING
This involves the development of
algorithms and models for the analysis and
synthesis of speech. Speech recognition,
speaker identification, and speech
synthesis are examples of tasks in this area.
QUICK HINT!
Speech recognition, also known as
automatic speech recognition (ASR) or
voice recognition, is a technology that
converts spoken language into written
text.
The primary goal of speech recognition
systems is to enable computers to
understand and interpret human speech,
making it a form of natural language
processing (NLP).
This technology has various
applications, ranging from voice
commands in smart devices to
transcription services, voice-
activated assistants, and more.
SPEAKER IDENTIFICATION

Speaker identification is a technology that

aims to determine the identity of a person
based on their unique voice characteristics.
It is often used in security systems, access
control, and forensic applications.
SPEECH SYNTHESIS

Speech synthesis, also known as

text-to-speech (TTS), is a technology
that converts written text into
spoken language.
The goal of speech synthesis is to
generate natural-sounding and
intelligible speech that mimics
the qualities of human speech.
7. CORPUS LINGUISTICS

Computational linguists use large collections of

linguistic data (corpora) to develop and evaluate
models. This involves techniques such as corpus
annotation, statistical analysis, and machine
learning applied to linguistic data.
A corpus is a large collection of texts
or spoken language samples that
serves as a representative sample of
a language or domain.
WHAT IS CORPUS ANNOTATION?
Corpus annotation is the process of adding
linguistic or other types of information to a
text corpus, making it more valuable for
linguistic analysis, natural language
processing, and other computational tasks.
8. MACHINE TRANSLATION

Machine translation involves

the automatic translation of text
from one language to another.
9. INFORMATION RETRIEVAL

This area involves developing systems to retrieve

relevant information from large collections of text.
Search engines, text
summarization, and question-
answering systems are examples of
applications within information
retrieval.
10. DIALOGUE SYSTEMS
Dialogue systems or conversational agents
involve the development of systems that can
engage in natural language conversations with
users. These include chatbots, virtual assistants,
and other interactive language-based interfaces.
SUMMARY

Computational linguistics is the branch

of linguistics in which the techniques
of computer science are applied to the
analysis and synthesis of language and
speech.
Computational linguistics focuses
on the system or concept that
machines can be computed to
understand, learn, or output
languages.
WHAT DO COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTS DO?
Computational linguists build systems that can
perform tasks such as speech recognition (e.g. Siri),
speech synthesis, machine translation (e.g., Google
Translate), grammar checking (e.g. Grammarly), text
mining and other “Big Data” applications, and many
others.
HELPFUL TASKS
Look up all the technical words and concepts in this course
to reinforce your understanding of the lecture.

For deeper understanding, you may install ChatGPT on

your phone and consult it on this course and others. Also,
you may consult many YouTube for very good recorded and
real-time lectures on your courses.
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