Formal Language Theory For Natural Language Processing

This paper reports on a course whose aim is to introduce Formal Language Theory to students with little formal background (mostly linguistics students). The course was first taught at the European Summer School for Logic, Language and Information to a mixed audience of students, undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate, with various backgrounds. The challenges of teaching such a course include preparation of highly formal, mathematical material for students with relatively little formal background; attracting the attention of students of different backgrounds; preparing examples that will emphasize the practical importance of material which is basically theoretical; and evaluation of students’ achievements.