Computational Linguistics M.A.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Upon completion of the degree, students should be able to analyze aspects of the sound structure (phonology) and sentence structure (syntax) of linguistic data exhibit familiarity with standard theories and analytical machinery in those empirical domains, e.g. rewrite rules, phrase structure trees, or optimality theoretic tableaux continue their exploration of phonology and syntax through advanced introductory courses or comparable learning materials.

2. Upon completion of the degree, students should be able to write programs in at least one programming language that is widely used in computational linguistics or data science, exhibit basic familiarity with standard programming tools such as debuggers or version control systems, employ common algorithms, methods, and techniques from computational linguistics.

3.  Upon completion of the degree, students should be able to exhibit a deeper understanding of the theoretical and formal underpinnings of linguistics  as commonly encountered in textbooks and advanced courses on theoretical linguistics and employ informed linguisitic reasoning applied to computational linguistic design decisions.

4. Upon completion of the degree, students should be able to exhibit a deeper understanding of mathematical, probabilistic, or statistical methods that are used in computational linguistics and adjacent fields read and comprehend mathematical notation and concepts as commonly encountered in textbooks and advanced courses on computational linguistics and adjacent fields employ mathematical reasoning when making computational design decisions.

5. Upon completion of the degree, students should be able to independently work on a small-scale research or programming project, draw from the primary literature and/or existing software solutions for their own project, document their own work in an accessible manner, in the form of either a research paper or software documentation.