Computing and Language Variation

Computing and Language Variation explores dialects and social differences in language computationally, examining topics such as how (and how much) linguistic differences impede intelligibility, how national borders accelerate and direct change, how opinion and hearsay shape perceptions of language differences, the role of intonation (melody), the differences between variation in pronunciation and vocabulary, and techniques for recognizing structure in larger collections of linguistic data. The computational investigations engage more traditional work deeply, and a panel discussion focuses on the opportunities and risks of pursuing humanities research using computational science. There is also an extensive introduction which attempts to sketch perspectives from which to approach the individual contributions.