Dong Nguyen, Anne-France Pinget: Collaborative Growth: Sociolinguistics, computational and quantitative methods

Collaborative Growth: Sociolinguistics, computational and quantitative methods

Speakers: Dong Nguyen, Anne-France Pinget

Discussant: Antal van den Bosch

Sociolinguistics is a dynamic research area which draws inspiration from various disciplines, including the social sciences, computer sciences and humanities, and utilizes diverse research methods, such as experimental work, fieldwork, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Recently, there has been growing interest in integrating sociolinguistics with computational methods. In this ILS meeting, we aim to explore approaches to sociolinguistics that investigate the insights that computational methods can offer, as well as the role of quantitative methodologies in sociolinguistic data collection. Dong Nguyen will explore how Large Language Models (LLMs) can enhance sociolinguistic research. Furthermore, she will discuss how sociolinguistic insights can contribute to measuring and mitigating biases in LLMs. Anne-France Pinget investigates biases in both speech production and perception using quantitative methods. In her current research project, she examines how young children acquire language variation and its social meaning as part of the socialization process. She will show how developmental sociolinguistics can contribute to understanding speech biases and to dealing with language variation as an intrinsic characteristics of language.