Language Technologies Minor

Using of human languages in a computational environment.

Human language technologies have become an increasingly central component of Computer Science in the last decade. Information retrieval, machine translation and speech technology are used daily by the general public, while text mining, natural language processing, and language-based tutoring are used regularly within more specialized professional or educational environments. The Language Technologies Minor allows students to learn about language technologies and apply them through a directed project.

Eligibility for the LT Minor

Students must apply for admission to the Language Technologies Minor no later than September 30 of their senior year; an admission decision will usually be made within one month. Students may petition the LTI Undergraduate Program Director to be admitted to the Language Technologies Minor earlier or later in their undergraduate careers.

Students who have completed the prerequisites with an average grade of B (3.0) or better will ordinarily be accepted into the program. Students who do not meet this average must also submit a letter of explanation along with their application.

Prerequisites for the LT Minor


Prerequisites:	15-211, Fundamental Data Str. & Algs.	[12 units]
	15-212, Principles of Programming	[12 units]
Recommended:	21-241, Matrix Algebra or	[ 9 units]
	21-341, Linear Algebra	[ 9 units]
	36-217, Prob. Theory and Random Proc.	[ 9 units]

Curriculum for the LT Minor


Core courses (2):	15-482, Human Language Technologies	[12 units, F]
	11-721, Grammars & Lexicons	[12 units, F]
Elective (choose any 2):	15-492, Speech Processing	[12 units, F]
	15-493, Info. Retrieval & Web Mining	[12 units, F]
	11-411, Natural Language Processing	[12 units, S]
	11-617, LT in CALL	[12 units, S]
	11-711, Algorithms for NLP	[12 units, F]
	11-731 , Machine Translation	[12 units, S]
	11-741 , Information Retrieval	[12 units, S]
	11-751 , Speech Recognition	[12 units, F]
	11-752 , Speech II	[12 units, S]
	11-761 , Language & Statistics	[12 units, S]
	80-180, The Nature of Language or	[ 9 units, F]
	80-280, Linguistic Analysis	[ 9 units, S]
Project (choose 1):	A semester-long directed research project	[12 units, F/S]
	or paper to provide hands-on experience
	and in-depth study of a topic.
	Must be in same area as a chosen elective.

The core gives a general introduction to language technologies, with an emphasis on natural language processing (NLP). The electives and project give in-depth experience in one or two specific language technologies.

One possible course sequence is shown below.

Jr year, F: 15-482 + elective (if F elective)

Jr year, S: elective(s) (if S elective(s))

Sr year, F: 11-721 + elective (if F elective)

Sr year, S: project

However, students would be free to mix-and- match as they see fit. Note that students only need to take two electives.

Administration of the Language Technologies Minor

The Chair of the LTI Undergraduate Program is Alan W Black (awb@cs.cmu.edu). Please contact him about eligibility, curriculum, etc. He will also help match students with faculty for interesting projects.

Double Counting

SCS undergraduates may use 15-482 as an elective for their CS degree and also as a required course for the Language Technologies Minor. Courses in the Language Technologies Minor may not also be counted towards another SCS minor.