The Montréal Computational & Quantitative Linguistics Lab is located in the Department of Linguistics at McGill University and is co-directed by Timothy O’Donnell, Siva Reddy, and Morgan Sonderegger. We use a variety of computational tools and methods to study fundamental questions about language acquisition, processing, use in society, and change over time.

One focus of research in the lab is on structured probabilistic models of phonology, morphology, and syntax which make critical use of linguistic theories. To build such models we draw on the framework of probabilistic programming languages and other areas of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

We also have a special interest in formal tools and techniques for understanding the acoustic and articulatory realization of phonetics and phonology. In order to carry out “big data” studies of phonetics and phonology, we build and apply tools for querying and analyzing large speech datasets. These tools use contemporary databases, machine learning, and speech recognition technology, in line with our more general interest in adapting powerful methods from computer science to analyze linguistic data.

Links to current and past projects can be found here.