Overview

1
Overview

• LING 5200
• Computational Corpus Linguistics
• Martha Palmer

2
Whats a corpus?

• McEnery Wilson
• (i) (loosely) any body of text
• (ii) (most commonly) a body of machine-readable
  text
• (iii) (more strictly) a finite collection of
  machine-readable text, sampled to be maximally
  representable of a language or variety

3
Whats corpus linguistics?

• the study of language based on examples of real
  life language use (McEnery Wilson)
• A methodology, not a branch of linguistics
• Biber et al.
• Uses computers
• Natural texts
• Large principled collection
• Both quantitative and qualitative

4
What was Chomskys complaint?

• Linguistics should model competence not
  performance. What are the underlying rules that
  allow us to generate language?
• Context structuralists believed in collecting
  linguistic data about a language without taking
  meaning and communication into consideration.
• Mirrors the debate between the rationalists and
  the empiricists.
• But, does Chomsky account for meaning?
• (see Searle)

5
Which Linguistic branches can make use of corpus
linguistics?

• Phonetics
• Phonology
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Semantics
• Pragmatics

• Psycholinguistics
• Computational Lx
• Descriptive Lx
• Historical Lx
• Sociolinguistics

6
Corpus linguistics in context

• 
  
• data
• 
  applications
• models

7
Whats LING 5200 Corpus Linguistics?

• Tools
• Techniques

8
Overview

• Quick intro to Unix
• A little corpus design
• Quick tour of corpora and annotation
• Tools for working with corpora
• Programming in Python
• Some software engineering

9
Why Python?

• It works
• Many advantages
• Its a bona fide programming language
• Youll need it for CSCI 5832

10
Administrative things

• Textbooks Unix, Python
• Office hours Mon 5-6, Tues 1-2
• verbs.colorado.edu/mpalmer/ling5200
• Prerequisites - none
• Grades homeworks/project
• Accounts on babel

11
Logging on for the first time

• First thing to do change your password.
• passwd
• Give it your current password, then your new
  password. Repeat the new one. (to catch typos)

12
Connecting with another computer

• ssh l your_name babel.colorado.edu
• You are prompted to log in.

13
Logging on for the first time, again

• First thing to do change your password.
• passwd
• Give it your current password, then your new
  password. Repeat the new one. (Why?)

14
Where am I?

• Type pwd
• You see something like this
• /home/mpalmer

15
What's that mean??
16
Important directories
/
bin
home
etc
usr
local
mpalmer
ling5200
bin
RCS
17
Important directories
/
bin
home
etc
usr
local
mpalmer
/home/mpalmer/ling5200
ling5200
bin
RCS
18
Important directories
/
bin
home
etc
usr
local
mpalmer
/home/mpalmer/ling5200
/usr/local/bin
ling5200
bin
RCS
19
Navigating directories

• ls to list contents, cd to change directory
• Directories are just like windows folders
• /home/mpalmer shortcut
• the directory above this one ..
• this directory .

20
What's in the neighborhood?

• Type ls
• You see a list of directories and files that are
  contained within the current directory
• Homework_1.txt
• tools
• buglog.txt

21
I'd like to go somewhere else

• Type pwd
• Type cd
• Where are you?
• Type cd ..
• Where are you?
• Type cd your_user_id
• Where are you?

22
Unix is a verb-initial language

• cd ..

"go"
where to go
23
Unix is a verb-initial language

• cd

If no argument, I assume you mean "home"
"go"
24
Making a new directory

• Type cd
• Type ls
• Type mkdir ling5200
• Type ls
• Go to the directory you just made (how?)
• Type pwd
• Type ls