Language, one of the main defining features of humans, has always been intimately associated with technology: even before the era of computation, artefacts were used to set text on stone, just as pencils were later used to write on paper. The emergence of computation, however, has brought along new information and communication possibilities, and while language has shaped and encouraged new technologies, it has also been influenced by them. The Computational Linguistics Working Group (WG), which lies at the centre of LITHME, aims to further this link by enhancing European strengths in emerging technology, while bringing linguistics in Europe to the cutting edge. Although the driving force behind computational linguistics has been computer science, this WG builds on the assumption that linguistics is a fundamental part of the equation. Therefore, the first aim of the WG is to produce a robust and reliable forecast of specific emerging technologies that are likely to become available and widely spread in the near future. Subsequently, it will liaise with all other WGs in order to provide an authoritative insight into how technological developments can be equated with inequality of access to technologies, questions of privacy and security, new vectors for deception and crime.

Keywords:

Machine translation, automatically generated text, intelligent chatbots, brain-machine interfaces, augmenting human voices, augmenting human facial movements and gestures, hardware: augmented reality eyewear/earwear

WG chairs:

Rui Sousa Silva

rssilva [ a t ] letras.up.pt

Henrique Lopes Cardoso

hlc [ a t ] fe.up.pt

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