“Language and computation share deep roots.”

Computational methods are increasingly more relevant within linguistics: modern research and industry careers require you to think as both a linguist and a programmer. The toolkit you have developed as a linguist is very applicable to computer science as well, but opaque jargon creates a high barrier of entry.

In this course, we’ll break down computer science fundamentals into byte-sized chunks, mapping your linguistics knowledge to its computational counterpart. Thus, the course is split into two phases — introduction to computation, applications in linguistics — and a culminating final project.

Attendance is required, as the majority of your learning will come from in-class work. Each class will consist of a lecture and an in-class lab assignment allowing you to put lecture material into practice.

This class is intended for linguists with little to no programming experience, so we ask that you do not enroll if you haven't taken LING 100 (or equivalent) as we will rely on linguistic knowledge to teach material.

Our enrollment policy is similar to first come, first served, but we'll weight it more heavily towards students who are about to graduate and students who have absolutely zero programming experience. Regardless of where you are in that mix, don't be afraid to apply!