AI seems to be an overly discussed topic nowadays, steadily impacting most academic fields as we know them. Artificial intelligence is closely connected with the world of linguistics. At first glance, you might be tempted to believe that a linguistics professor, for example, has nothing to do with this domain. Well, the reality is entirely different. Let’s find out why!
Artificial Intelligence and Linguistics: Connections
We could argue that language represents one of the fundamental expressions of human intelligence. As a matter of fact, Kendra A. Palmer paints out, that the process of language acquisition is one of the most noteworthy accomplishments of humankind and a huge evolutionary leap. However, language is not an exact science, which might make one believe that these two areas have nothing in common.
Even if most processes that lie at the core of language are logical, others are more difficult to explain. That’s primarily because language is complex. Therefore, deciding when casual or polite phrasing is better suited is something that requires in-depth thought.
With the development of artificial intelligence, it has become clear to us that artificial intelligence is compatible with any domain; even with the ones that seem utterly humanistic, such as linguistics.
Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing
Presently, natural language processing is one of the primary fields of AI. To a given extent, it overlaps with Computational Linguistics – which is a key field of linguistics, which has experienced significant growth over the last couple of years.
Essentially, the main challenge of computational linguistics represents the modeling of necessary linguistics processing – namely the production and learning of language, the comprehension of the language, so on and so forth. It incorporates AI problems, including communication, perception, planning, knowledge, learning, and reasoning.
From an intuitive point of view, one could define translation as the comprehension of a text and its reproduction in another language. Nevertheless, in terms of artificial intelligence, this would mean the modeling of the language’s comprehension process, as well as its production process. The quality of the translation, indeed, is a critical issue when it comes to machine translations.
Linguists can play their part, in the sense that they can contribute to the improvement of these machines so that the measurable result would have better quality.
AI Offers Career Opportunities for Linguists
As a linguist, your strength is the fact that you understand how language functions, on a deeper level. Expressly, when it comes to machine translations, lexical ambiguity and variation might trigger certain complications.
Thus, such problems have to be approached from a certified linguist. By analyzing the distinctions, a real expert will:
Contribute to establishing the correct word order
Provide context-based translation
Avoid tautology by finding relevant synonyms
Set the right tone of voice
Incorporate proper formatting, and for example, ASA style example is something you should trust experienced academic writer, not automated formatting tools.
On a different note, the success level of machine translations is related to the adaptation and customization of the text, by assessing the specifications of the user and the processing of the source text.
AI and Its Link to Grammarly and Paper Writers
Let’s take a moment to think about Grammarly – this software has been heavily used over the last couple of years by almost everyone. It is meant to enhance the quality of the written text, pointing out the existence of grammatical errors, strange expressions, etc. And while it is definitely a handy tool, it comes with a range of limitations. Despite the advantages of all such tools, they cannot replace human editing and proofreading. Not a single machine can adapt its’ writing style to certain context and reader expectations. In these cases, the only way out is to seek the help of professional essay writer to complete all your assignments before the deadlines. In this case, your writing will be perfect from A to Z.
The software aims at comprehending the meaning behind the text, the correct usage of words, synonyms, etc. Still, since it is just an AI tool, the result isn’t perfect. It is crystal clear why: language is one of the most complex mechanisms, as we’ve already pointed, which is what makes human intervention critical. There are different dialects in a language, and the terminology is continually evolving, making it challenging for an AI tool to keep up.
To that end, the responsibility of a linguist would be to perfect the contribution of AI to written text, making it more accurate.
For AI to accomplish the same skill levels when it comes to acquiring new information, then it should be modeled after how humans communicate, person to person. At the same time, how humans acquire further information should be considered.
So, even if it might seem difficult to believe that AI could relate to the field of linguistics, you can apply your knowledge and experience in this domain, as well. Artificial intelligence is an emerging domain that supplies a wide diversity of job opportunities for people from all backgrounds. Thus, if you are knowledgeable in the cultural aspects of language, such as phonetics and semantics, as well as the language patterns and usages, you might try your luck and get a career in AI.
