Junior Sophister

Virtually all CSL students whose language is French or German spend the entire Junior Sophister year abroad at another European university. It is a requirement to spend at least two months in another country with the primary language of choice. Students of Irish may go to Scotland and study Scots Gaelic.

Whilst abroad, courses are taken which advance the study of the same disciplines as those covered in the first two years, namely computer science, linguistics and computational linguistics. The partner universities are chosen to facilitate this.

As an indicator of the syllabus, modules in computer science and linguistics are given below, which would be taken by a CSL student undertaking their junior-sophister year here – an exceptional circumstance for CSL students of French and German.

Modules in Computer Science

Note: All links below in PDF format

• ST2004 Applied Probability 1
• CS3011 Symbolic Programming
• CS3012 Software Engineering
• CS3071 Compiler Design I
• CS3061 Artificial Intelligence I

Modules in Linguistics and chosen language

Students take classes in language fluency, the linguistic study of their chosen language, and courses in theoretical and applied linguistics as follows:

• LI2301/LI231A Aspects of Vocabulary
• LI2307/LI2307A Aspects of Written Language
• LI2303/LI233A Language Learning

Dublin Computational Linguistics Seminar Series

Project

Students develop a formal analysis in syntax or semantics of a fragment of their host language using one of the theoretical frameworks addressed in the degree. The exact topic is negotiated individually, and it is jointly evaluated by the host and home institutions. Students electing to take the fourth year option in computational linguistics develop implementations of these grammars. Previous students have done a wide range of interesting papers for this.