Computational Linguistics is an interdisciplinary subject. It requires knowledge of computer science and linguistics, as well as the ability to use these skills in order to solve a problem of language processing theory. Therefore, the study of computational linguistics is consists of three study areas:
- Computer science and programming practice
- Theoretical and empirical foundations of formal statistical language modeling
- Algorithmic computational linguistics: the core area of theoretical and applied computational linguistics.
Why we need to study computer language:
The ability to interact with natural language is one of the most amazing features of human beings. Language is the most important medium for information and communication. Without language our life is nothing. The question of how language works, is a fundamental question about the nature and uniqueness of the human mind and human culture.
Computational language is an interdisciplinary subject. It examines how algorithmic procedures of computer science and statistical methods can be automatically processed and interpreted. In all three areas coursework must be provided.
Theory and practice are closely related to each other in computational linguistics.The special feature of computational linguistics is the algorithm linguistics. Empirical linguist needs an algorithm or a statistical model design in order to achieve the desired results.
Finally, a lot of perseverance is required. Programming takes time. A program runs correctly, you will pass many hours. The empirical experiments do not always lead to the desired result. And since the computational linguistics is an exact science, there are the results usually nothing to hedge: but it only helps to improve the theory, the algorithm or process and re-evaluate.
It is an emerging technology.
Techniques and tools are available to build language processing systems that are of interest to business and a wide private clientele. There are currently a number of computational linguistic research projects at universities, at research institutions.
This study provides theoretical and practical foundations for a variety of careers in both the media and knowledge area as well as in professional fields in which the processing and description of linguistic interaction is paramount.
Practical Examples of Computational Linguistics You Must Know
Examples of existing and potential applications of computational linguistics can be found in many areas of modern society, such as:
- Assistance in translating texts into another language or in automatic translation (machine translation).
- Maintain the automatic set-up and development of large databases linguistically available information, e.g. by automatic creation of summaries and abstracts (Summarization), or the discovery of targeted information in large amounts of scientific publications (e-Science).
- The retrieval of information across heterogeneous data sources: for example, the Internet, large structured databases or extensive corporate portals.
- The automatic answering questions process is based on large databases.
- Finally, language learning and correction programs for foreign language learners E.g., vocabulary trainer and any other exercise programs, for spelling and grammar for native speakers.
- Voice interaction with computers or in the field of “artificial intelligence” such as field of robotics.
In addition to their practical applications, the computational linguistics deals with various research questions that arise from the different aspects of formal and algorithmic perspective on the phenomenon language:
The languages of the world must be able to have many common, but also many different structural principles that represent the machine processing systems of computational linguistics.
A research question of computational linguistics is whether or to what extent the world’s languages can be modeled on the basis of uniform formal grammar formalism and efficiently processed with computational linguistic algorithms.
The issue of cognitive adequacy of such formalism can be explored by psycho linguistic experiments. The theoretically oriented computational linguistics dedicated in particular to question, what aspects of the language system can be displayed and processed by what formal description constructs and algorithms.
The applications of computational linguistics and its relationship to neighboring disciplines are influenced by the nature and functioning of natural language. Language is primarily the interaction and communication of content. Just like the human voice using the Natural Language Processing is with the barriers of the diversity of natural languages faced.
