CSA3202 – Human Language Technol

CSA3202 – Human Language Technology

Lecturer(s): Mr. Michael Rosner & Mr. Angelo Dalli

Prerequisites: None
ECTS Credits: 6
Lectures: approx 42 Hrs
Method of Assessment: Examination: 80%; Assignment 20%

Human Language Technology (HLT) covers a broad spectrum of subjects and approaches concerned with the goal of creating “language enabled” computer programs that can process natural language in ways inspired by humans, e.g. for flexible communication, for the storage and retrieval of information, for classification of the world etc. Despite the name, the area tends to be approached from both scientific and technological perspectives. Fundamental research on spoken and written human language and its relationship to reasoning and thinking intermingles with the engineering of computational solutions to the problems posed by ambiguity, imperfect data and sensitivity to context. The main aim of the course is to provide an introduction to the fundamentals of the subject with an appropriate mix of theory and practice. The following areas will be looked at in particular:

Linguistics: Language, Syntax and Morphology;
Words, finite state approaches, computational morphology (word structure);
Sentences – Parsing techniques, semantic analysis;
Text Corpora - tokenisation, tagging, chunking of texts, information extraction;
Statistical Techniques: Bayesian methods, smoothing.

No prior knowledge of Linguistics is presumed, the necessary background being provided as an integral part of the course. A keen interest in language and applications of language technology is more or less mandatory. Assignment will involve the development of NLP programs in one or more of the above areas.

Assessment: Examination: (80%) Assignment: (20%) Duration of Examination: 3 Hrs

For Resit sessions, the method of assessment will be of a written exam of 80%. The 20% mark of the assignment can either be retained from the first sit or another assignment submission can be done according to the preference of the student.

Textbooks:

D. Jurafsky & J. Martin, Speech and Language Processing, 2nd Edition ISBN: 0-13-187321-0.
Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK): http://www.nltk.org

Website http://staff.um.edu.mt/mros1/csa3202/