海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences Professor Awarded Grant for Algorithmic Metalinguistic Analysis
The National Science Foundation has awarded a grant of more than $500,000 to develop algorithms to analyze metalinguistic text. Schneider, whose research lies at the intersection of computation and human language, is investigating how natural language processing (NLP) can incorporate explicit descriptions of how languages work by linguists, judges and lay speakers.
鈥淭he grant is focused on the concept of metalanguage,鈥� Schneider explains. 鈥淲e talk using language and we talk about language. Language-about-language shows up in writing too: in dictionaries, textbooks, scientific articles, web forums 鈥� even legal cases. I want to develop technologies that help us learn about language from those texts.鈥�
The grant is an NSF CAREER award, which supports early-career faculty 鈥渨ho have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.鈥�
Schneider鈥檚 study of metalanguage encompasses multiple genres. One is the extensive collection of writings, opinions and rulings that constitute the American system of justice. Laws are written down, and when their meaning is contested in court, it is up to judges to articulate an interpretation.
鈥淪ome of the clearest statements of language don鈥檛 come from the classroom, but from the courtroom,鈥� says Schneider. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e starting with court cases that leverage this expert interpretation of language.鈥�
Parts of the internet, too, are abuzz with language commentary. 鈥淚鈥檓 also interested in discussions by language learners and writing that is aimed at those learners,鈥� Schneider says. 鈥淥nline forums where learners post questions about English, for example, are a gold mine for NLP algorithms.鈥�
The research 鈥� conducted in partnership with doctoral students in Schneider鈥檚 lab and in consultation with experts including , a Georgetown Law professor 鈥� could result in publicly available code and tools that empower academics and members of the public to augment their reading and writing. Other areas stand to benefit as well.
鈥淢etalanguage understanding is an important approach for learning how language constructs relate across different taxonomies, a foundational issue for social science and public policy research,鈥� says , Professor of Computer Science and Director of the .
Schneider holds dual appointments in the and the . He teaches courses on natural language processing and computational semantics.