In 'Because Internet,' Gretchen McCulloch delves into the ways the internet has influenced language, from the development of texting and memes to the use of emojis and emoticons. The book examines how internet conversations are structured by the shape of our apps and platforms, and how social media acts as a laboratory for unedited and unfiltered language. McCulloch discusses how our online interactions reveal aspects of our identities and how language evolves quickly through online communities. She also explores the historical context of internet language, including the different generations of internet users and their unique linguistic styles[2][3][5].
This book, co-authored by Emily M. Bender and Alex Lascarides, serves as a comprehensive guide to linguistics for those in natural language processing. It covers essential concepts in morphology and syntax, providing a foundational understanding of language structure. The book aims to bridge the gap between linguistic theory and computational practice, offering insights into how language works. It includes numerous examples from various languages, highlighting the diversity and complexity of linguistic phenomena. The book's clear explanations and practical examples make it an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the intricacies of language.
When a human learns a new word, we're learning to attach that word to a set of concepts in the real world. When a computer "learns" a new word, it is creating some associations between that word and other words it has seen before, which can sometimes give it the appearance of understanding, but it doesn't have that real-world grounding, which can sometimes lead to spectacular failures: hilariously implausible from a human perspective, just as plausible from the computer's.
In this episode, your host Lauren Gawne gets enthusiastic about how computers process language with Dr. Emily M. Bender, who is a linguistics professor at the University of Washington, USA, and cohost of the podcast Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000. We talk about Emily's work trying to formulate a list of rules that a computer can use to generate grammatical sentences in a language, the differences between that and training a computer to generate sentences using the statistical likelihood of what comes next based on all the other sentences, and the further differences between both those things and how humans map language onto the real world. We also talk about paying attention to communities not just data, the labour practices behind large language models, and how Emily's persistent questions led to the creation of the Bender Rule (always state the language you're working on, even if it's English).
Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice: episodes.fm/1186056137/episode/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvMTk2NDIxOTY5OQ
Read the transcript here: lingthusiasm.com/post/767803835730231296/transcript-episode-98
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In this month’s bonus episode we get enthusiastic about three places where we can learn things about linguistics!! We talk about two linguistically interesting museums that Gretchen recently visited: the Estonian National Museum, as well as Mundolingua, a general linguistics museum in Paris. We also talk about Lauren's dream linguistics travel destination: Martha's Vineyard.
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For links to things mentioned in this episode: lingthusiasm.com/post/767803572750581760/lingthusiasm-episode-98-helping-computers-decode
Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics 
