Computational Simulations of Language

Uitgebreide vaknaam	Computational Simulations of Language
Leerdoelen	The goal of this course is to give students an introduction into computational approaches to language and dialogue analysis, look both at theoretical questions and more practical applications.
Omschrijving	In this course students will be introduced to the research on discourse and dialogue structure. The course will cover three major related topics: 1) An introduction to the theoretical approaches to discourse structure and the research questions currently being debated. In particular, we will concentrate on major theories of rhetorical structure such as RST (Rhetorical Structure Theory), SDRT (Segmented Discourse Representation Theory) and other theories of coherence relations. 2) Discourse structure processing. We will look at a number of experimental studies that tell us about what discourse structures humans recognize/use in communication, including e.g. studies of the acquisition of understanding discourse relations like cause-effect relations, the effect of the presence or absence of coherence markers like "because" and "but" on textual understanding and reading efficiency. 3) Computational approaches to discourse structure. Here we will look at automatic methods for recognizing coherence relations, and also discuss applications where coherence relations are useful. Each major topic has an associated lab session. Additionally, students will be asked to do a small pilot study, making a presentation and report of their results.
Uren per week
Onderwijsvorm	Hoorcollege (LC), Practisch werk (PRC) (Introductory lecture, homework and lab sessions)
Toetsvorm	Opdracht (AST)
Vaksoort	master
Coördinator	Dr. J.K. Spenader
Docent(en)	Dr. J.K. Spenader , F. Tsiwah, PhD.
Entreevoorwaarden	Mandatory: No prior knowledge is assumed. Please note that the student is expected to have a relevant BSc degree.
Opmerkingen
Opgenomen in	Opleiding Jaar Periode Type MSc Artificial Intelligence  (C - Elective Course Units) - semester II a keuze MSc Computational Cognitive Science  (B - Mandatory Course Units Cognitive Language Modelling) - semester II a verplicht CLM MSc Computational Cognitive Science  (C - Elective Course Units) - semester II a keuze MSc Courses for Exchange Students: AI - Computing Science - Mathematics - semester II a ReMa Taalwetenschappen / Linguistics  (ReMa Language and Communication Technologies (LCT); Erasmus Mundus) 1 semester II a keuze