Engineering, Science and Scholarship in Linguistics - 2000

Explore a thought-provoking lecture on the intersections and divergences between linguistic engineering and linguistic science. Delve into Fred Jelinek's controversial statement about firing linguists in speech recognition projects, and examine the underlying reasons for the divergence between intelligent approaches to linguistic engineering and linguistic science. Analyze two extended examples from the linguistic study of lexical tone: Yoruba enclitics and Mawukakan compounds. Consider the differences in focus between these fields, including the economic relevance of studied languages, the importance of rare linguistic phenomena, and the varying emphasis on "how," "what," and "why" questions. Discover why both linguistic engineering and linguistic science may benefit from fostering a modern form of traditional linguistic scholarship, despite their differences in approach and objectives.