Vår 2025

HIF-3082 Quantitative Methods in Linguistics - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for språk og kultur

Type of course

This course is mandatory for students in the MA programme in English Acquisition and Multilingualism, and elective for students in the MA programme in Theoretical Linguistics. This course may be taken as a single course by students who qualify for admission to the MA programme in Theoretical Linguistics and/or a MA programme in linguistics in general (Russian, Spanish etc.).

Course contents

This course introduces students to some of the major tools required in the organization and understanding of quantitative linguistic data. This will include: general analytic method, probabilistic logic, statistics, and the use of the programming language R. It is appropriate for students who are interested in data gathered either experimentally or from corpora.

Admission requirements

A bachelor's Degree (180 ECTS), or equivalent qualification, in a language or linguistics, or a degree combining linguistics and literature (minimum 80 ECTS in linguistics/language/literature, of which minimum 60 ECTS must be in linguistics and/or language). Applicants who hold a bachelor's degree or equivalent issued in Europe, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand: An average grade C as a minimum requirement. Applicants who hold a bachelor's degree or equivalent issued in countries other than the above mentioned region/countries: An average grade B as a minimum requirement.

Application code: 9371 - Enkeltemner på masternivå (Nordic applicants).

Objective of the course

The students have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

By the end of the course the student has a basic knowledge and understanding of the following areas:

General Logic and Inference
Basic Probability Theory
Modelling and Statistical Tests
The Programming Language R for Statistical Analysis

Skills

In practical terms, the student has acquired the following connected skills:

How to gather and organize data either experimentally or from corpora.
How to model complex data with appropriate choice of statistical model.
How to test statistical models with the appropriate tests.
How to use R to organize and explore patterns in the data, and run the standard statistical tests required in reporting scientific research.

Language of instruction

Language of instruction and examination: English.

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminars/exercises and discussions.

Quality assurance: All courses undergo a halfway evaluation once in a 2-year period at the master's level. The Programme Board determines which programme options will be evaluated per year, and which courses will be evaluated by the students and the teacher per year.