Computers and Human Language

This is a text designed for use in introductory courses in computational linguistics taught in computer science and linguistics departments. Smith's text is designed to meet the pressing need for appropriate undergraduate teaching materials in this subject. Classroom-tested, it provides a gradual systematic exposition of this challenging subject, setting computational approaches within the context of linguistic and cognitive theory. The text is written to be accessible to students with brief experience in the formal study of language and those with some exposure to algorithmic thinking. It should not only serve existing courses in computational linguistics but permit programmes without such courses to develop them.