Lecture Notes

Introduction

Session 1 on 10/04/2018 (Johann-Mattis List)

• Topic: Introduction to Computer-Assisted Language Comparison
• Content: Basic topics: seminar plan, structure of the lectures, some key concepts, presentation of the schedule.
• Literature: Nobody (2000)
• Lecture Notes: Session 1

Session 2 on 17/04/2018 (Tiago Tresoldi)

• Topic: Getting Started
• Content: Installation instructions for the software that will be needed for the seminar.
• Literature: Nobody (2000)
• Lecture Notes: Session 2

Reference Catalogs

Session 3 on 24/04/2018 (Johann-Mattis List and Tiago Tresoldi)

• Topic: Concepticon
• Content: Learn how to link a concept list to Concepticon, how to compare existing concept lists, and the philosophy behind Concepticon.
• Literature: List et al. (2016)
• Lecture Notes: Session 3

Session 4 on 01/05/2018

• Topic: HOLIDAY!
• Content: Relax and enjoy the hopefully nice weather.
• Literature: Jones (2018)
• Lecture Notes: —

Session 5 on 08/05/2018 (Cormac Anderson, Johann-Mattis List, and Tiago Tresoldi)

• Topic: Cross-Linguistic Transcription Systems (CLTS)
• Content: Learn the basic problems of phonetic transcription, what CLTS offers, how it can be queried, and how it could be used from Python code or the standalone JavaScript app.
• Literature: Anderson et al. (under review)
• Lecture Notes: Session 5

Data Formats

Session 6 on 15/05/2018 (Johann-Mattis List and Christoph Rzymski)

• Topic: Cross-Linguistic Data Formats and Beyond
• Content: Introduce the CLDF philosophy and the basic formats used by LingPy and EDICTOR.
• Literature: Forkel et al. (under review)
• Lecture Notes: Session 6

Cognate Detection

Session 7 on 22/05/2018 (Johann-Mattis List and Mei-Shin Wu)

• Topic: Inferring, modeling, and analysing alignments
• Content: Introduce basic algorithms for alignments, how they are modeled in linguistics, and how one can infer them with LingPy or annotate them with EDICTOR.
• Literature: List (2014: 61-118)
• Lecture Notes: Session 7

Session 8 on 29/05/2018 (Johann-Mattis List)

• Topic: Inferring, modeling, and analysing cognate sets
• Content: Introduce basic algorithms for automatic cognate detection (partial and complete), as well as basic methods for annotating them in EDICTOR.
• Literature: List (2012)
• Lecture Notes: Session 8

Session 9 on 05/06/2018 (Johann-Mattis List)

• Topic: Partial Cognate Detection with LingPy and EDICTOR
• Content: Explain the basic idea behind partial cognate detection.
• Literature: List (2016)
• Lecture Notes: Session 9

Sound Change

Session 10 on 12/06/2018 (Johann-Mattis List)

• Topic: Automatic Detection of Correspondence Patterns
• Content: Explain the basic idea behind correspondence patterns and the correspondence pattern recognition algorithm.
• Literature: Anttila (1972: 229-263)
• Lecture Notes: Session 10

Session 11 on 19/06/2018 (Cormac Anderson, Johann-Mattis List, Tiago Tresoldi)

• Topic: Multi-tiered sequence representation
• Content: Provide basic ideas of how multi-tiered sequences can be useful, as they are already employed in LingPy, but also beyond that point.
• Literature: List (2014: 117-133)
• Lecture Notes: Session 11

Semantic Shift

Session 12 on 26/06/2018 (Johann-Mattis List and Tiago Tresoldi)

• Topic: Cross-linguistic colexifications
• Content: Provide basic ideas regarding the inference and the interpretation of cross-linguistic colexifications and partial colexifications.
• Literature: François (2008)
• Lecture Notes: Session 12

Language Contact

Session 13 on 03/07/2018 (Johann-Mattis List and Tiago Tresoldi)

• Topic: Borrowing detection and annotation
• Content: Provide basic information on the MLN package in LingPy for borrowing detection, as well as the possibility to find borrowings with stratification analyses (for which no algorithm exists).
• Literature: List et al. (2014)
• Lecture Notes: Session 13

Phylogenies

Session 14 on 10/07/2018 (Tiago Tresoldi and Mei-Shin Wu)

• Topic: Using phylogenies in computational historical linguistics
• Content: Discuss topics like ancestral state reconstruction and phylogenetic reconstruction.
• Literature: Greenhill (2015)
• Lecture Notes: Session 14