Computational Psycholinguistics (ESSLLI 2014 Advanced Course in Language and Computation)

Over the last two and a half decades, computational linguistics has been revolutionized as a result of three closely related developments: increases in computing power, the advent of large linguistic datasets, and a paradigm shift toward probabilistic modeling. At the same time, similar theoretical developments in cognitive science have led to a view major aspects of human cognition as instances of rational statistical inference. These developments have set the stage for renewed interest in computational approaches to human language use. Correspondingly, this course covers some of the most exciting developments in computational psycholinguistics over the past decade. The course spans human language comprehension, production, and acquisition, and covers key phenomena from both phonetics and syntax. Students will learn key technical tools including probabilistic models, formal grammars, and decision theory, and how theory, computational modeling, and data can be combined to advance our fundamental understanding of human language use.

Each day of the 5-day course will be primarily lectures with some boardwork, but with ample opportunity for discussion. Don't hesitate to ask questions during the lectures!

Every day of the course has a core reading – a short conference paper describing one of the models receiving primary focus for that day. We encourage you to read the core reading before class each day, as it will prepare you better to absorb the material in the day's class. We've also included a list of other readings to give you a broader range of pointers to key related literature for each day's lecture.

Graduate students and researchers in linguistics, cognitive science, logic, psychology, computer science, and any other discipline who are interested in using computational modeling techniques, especially probabilistic modeling, to study human language processing and acquisition.