Category: Announcements

Curious about what it’s like to use your linguistic background in a language tech start up?

Fluential, a silicon valley language tech company working on spoken dialogue systems and speech to speech translation, has an immediate opening for a linguist. The linguist will work on a variety of activities including but not limited to: analyzing conversational data, building linguistic resources for interactive dialogue systems and/or speech to speech translation systems, testing systems, assisting with data collection and assisting with advance research efforts.

The position is part time with a flexible schedule. Candidates should have an interest in Computational Linguistics, good problem solving and analytical skills, be eager to learn and be able to be practical. Candidates should have a linguistics background covering syntax, semantics and pragmatics and phonology. We would be most interested in an undergraduate student who has completed all or some of the upper level core semantics, syntax and phonology requirements or a graduate student with appropriately broad interests and experience. Any programming or scripting experience would be a plus.

Initially, the linguist will work directly with the Director of Computational Linguistics, Beth Ann Hockey, a former Adjunct Professor in the department. Those interested should contact her at bahockey@fluentialinc.com.

The study of how morphophonological exponents are connected to morphosyntactic features lies at the heart of the study of the interface between syntax and the lexicon. It raises questions about phonological representations, the proper way to codify information in the lexicon and the ways in which different lexical entries are related to each other, among many other topics that have received a great deal of attention in the last 20 years. The goal of this workshop is to bring together researchers that have approached these questions from a variety of theoretical perspectives, attending to their phonological, syntactic and morphological aspects.

The Workshop is June 7-8, 2012, and abstracts are due March 5, 2012. For details see the website.

The Center for South Asia Studies at UC Berkeley have entered into a unique partnership with The Tata Group, the largest private corporate group in India and one of the most respected companies in the world. The Tata International Social Entrepreneurship Scheme (Tata ISES) provides international students with an opportunity to contribute to community initiative projects of Tata Group companies in India. These unique learning experiences for students help promote international understanding and bring new perspectives to the existing TATA initiatives in India.

Tata ISES interns will spend eight weeks in India working with Tata companies on various development projects. Competitively selected interns will join Tata community development teams working on the economic and social empowerment of communities surrounding the company’s operating units. Intern assignments will involve participation in on-going activities/projects with Tata Group companies.

To learn more, go here or see the posting outside the Linguistics Department office.

The Linguistics Department has limited funds to support outstanding research carried out by linguistics and language studies majors. Applications for funding (available in the department office) are due by April 30.

HUGRA awards support and encourage undergraduate research in the humanities. Up to 10 awards in the amount of $500 each are given each year. There are no constraints on the expenditure of the stipend. The top proposal receives the Bertha N. Melkonian prize, an additional $500. The deadline for HUGRA applications is March 1, 2012.

Any project involving research within or including any of the humanities disciplines is eligible for consideration. Proposals must be for research performed during the 2011-2012 academic year. Previous years’ awardees are not eligible to apply.

Proposals will be judged on the basis of:
a) intellectual substance
b) promise of results
c) preparation of applicant
d) feasibility

Application includes:

I) 1-3 page research proposal, describing the research problem to be addressed, what will be done in the project, and what end product (e.g. research paper, senior thesis, project report) is expected. A timetable should be included.

II) Application form (download here).

III) A letter of support from a faculty sponsor addressing items a) through d) above.

NOTE: The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the letter of support is submitted by the deadline.