Computational and Corpus Linguistics MSc

Year of entry: 2025

Course length: 12 months Full-Time | 24 Months Part-Time

About the course

The programme offers a comprehensive training in computational linguistics - the study of the processing of human languages by machines – and corpus linguistics - the scientific study of human languages via databases of texts.

Students will learn the theoretical and practical foundations of computer natural language processing, gaining hands-on experience of building and analysing systems for the computer understanding and generation of text. They will acquire skills in linguistic analysis and learn to use corpus data to develop and test hypotheses in diverse areas of linguistics. Along the way they will acquire constitutive techniques in computer programming, statistics, and research design.

The course will particularly suit those with undergraduate degrees in Linguistics (or related disciplines) who want to develop quantitative and computational skills, and those with some quantitative skills who are seeking training in linguistics and computation.'

Learn more >

A lively community of researchers using computer natural language processing and opportunity to attend relevant research seminars across the campus.

Department staff with knowledge of a diverse range of languages and experience in working with students who want to pursue a project on their own language.

Access to the University’s High Performance Computing facilities and to corpora of modern and historical languages.

Where will your degree take you?

Natural language processing skills are in high demand among employers and this course develops these skills from a unique linguistically-informed perspective. The skills gained during this course would help prepare you for data science and natural language engineering positions in the many sectors that make use of NLP and/or the analysis of language data. The focus on cutting edge skills in a fast moving field will also prepare you for jobs that do not yet exist.

Dr. Colin Bannard

Programme director for the MSc in Computational and Corpus Linguistics

Dr. Colin Bannard is the programme director for the MSc in Computational and Corpus Linguistics. He specialises in computational linguistics and psycholinguistics, studying how children become competent users of language in the first 2 to 3 years of life, and how this process can replicated by machines. Much of his current work is focused on generative language models (of which GPT is a widely known example), on understanding and interpreting their behaviour, and how they can be used as models of human language production. He has also recently been applying computational linguistics in the detection of early signs of Parkinson’s disease.

Learn more >