Matching Needs and Resources: How NLP Can Help Theoretical Linguistics

While some linguistic questions pose challenges that could be met by developing and applying NLP techniques, other problems can best be approached with a blend of old-fashioned linguistic investigation and the use of simple, well-established NLP tools. Unfortunately, this means that the NLP component is too simple to be of interest to the computationally-minded, while existing tools are often difficult for the programming novice to use. For NLP to come to the aid of research in theoretical linguistics, a continuing investment of effort is required to bridge the gap. This investment can be made from both sides.