Hello! I'm a Ph.D. student in Linguistics at the Department of Liberal Arts at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH). I work with Dr. Prakash Mondal in the Language and Cognition Group. Before IITH, I obtained my masters in English Language Studies from the School of Humanities and Integrated Masters in Systems Biology from the School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH), where I worked on a project in computational neuroscience at the Neuronal Systems lab with Dr. Joby Joseph.
My present research interests are mainly syntax, semantics, mathematical linguistics, and NLP. Specifically, I am working in the area of discontinuity in natural language. In my thesis, we've proposed a novel Correspondence Principle to unify head-dependent relations and functor-argument relations. The aim is to achieve a unified representation of constituency, head-dependent, and functor-argument relations. Thereby, through mathematical/logical derivations, we were able to achieve a unified representation of discontinuous sentences. These include simple and complex sentences from German, Croatian, Kwak'wala (British Columbia), Kalkatungu (North Australia), Salish, Malagasy (Madagascar), Wan (Ivory Coast), and Turkish. Right now, I'm interested in understanding how the unified representation relates to the representation of continuous and discontinuous structures in our neurocognitive system.
Does this description seem a bit too technical? No worries! Let me simplify my current research for you:
Have you ever wondered how our brains can quickly understand sentences with all the words jumbled up? It's like solving a puzzle in the blink of an eye. Our brains are like language experts, smoothly handling words on the go. This has fascinated experts in language and the brain for a long time. That's exactly what we're exploring—diving into this incredible world of language.
While most studies focus on languages with specific word orders, we're taking a closer look at languages like Malayalam and Turkish. In these languages, words can freely swap places. But how does the brain manage this linguistic dance? Armed with curiosity and insights from studying language and the brain, my current research is aimed towards uncovering the brain's hidden talents. It's like being a language detective, figuring out how our minds understand the order of words.
And the result? It's smooth sailing for language processing. We're connecting the dots between language structures and how the brain works, giving us a clearer understanding of languages from all around the world. But it's not just about sentences—it's about the fascinating way humans connect. Our discoveries, even though they might seem complex, touch lives in many ways. So, next time you're chatting, take a moment to appreciate how your brain effortlessly weaves words into a perfect symphony!
I've recently become interested in its implications for NLP research, especially in the context of language models.
I am a member of the Language and Cognition group at IITH.
Here is my CV (9/2023).
I am always interested to hear about new opportunities. Feel free to contact me through email for potential collaborative opportunities.
A little more about me
My official name is Kandala Nirupama Sri Ranga Ratna. Unless we've met during high school, I go by the name Ratna [ r uh t n ah ]. I was born in Warangal, India, and raised in Hyderabad. I hold a black belt in karate (Shotokan style). My other interests include fitness, music, reading, dancing, and traveling.
News:
5/24: Received the "Student Scholarship" at attend LREC-COLING-24 conference in Turin, Italy!
4/24: I will be a TA for the Deep Learning course at Neuromatch Academy this July! Yay!
3/24: A manuscript titled "On the Unified Representation of Continuity and Discontinuity and its Neuro-Cognitive Grounding" co-authored with my advisor Dr. Prakash Mondal has now been published in the journal Folia Linguistica.
2/24: Participated in the 3-Minute Talk competition during the Research Scholars Day 2024 at IITH
2/24: A manuscript titled "On the Unified Representation of Continuity and Discontinuity and its Neuro-Cognitive Grounding" co-authored with my advisor Dr. Prakash Mondal has been accepted for publication in the journal Folia Linguistica, published by Mouton de Gruyter.
2/24: Selected for the Oxford Machine Learning (OxML) Summer School 2024
1/24: Chaired the session "Motion/Space: Acquisition & Psycholinguistics" at the LSA Annual Meet 2024
1/24: Chaired the session "Semantics and Pragmatics" at the LSA Annual Meet 2024
1/24: Presented my research at the Five Minute Linguist (5ML) event at the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) Annual Meet 2024 in New York City, USA
1/24: Attended the centennial LSA Annual Meet in New York City, USA
12/23: My research was presented at the Inter-IIT Tech Meet 12.0 at IIT Madras
12/23: Received COGEL Travel Grant awards 2024 Honorable Mention by the Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
11/23: Invited to present my research at the Inter-IIT Tech Meet 12.0 at IIT Madras
10/23: Selection for the 5-Minute Linguist event is now published on the LSA Annual Meet 2024 website
09/23: The paper presented at ICNLP 2023 is now published in IEEE Xplore
08/23: I am now a member of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
08/23: Abstract accepted for the Five-Minute Linguist (5ML) event at the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) Annual Meet 2024, New York City
08/23: A manuscript titled "A Pragmatic Analysis of Scalar Implicature in the Context of Conjoined Predication" co-authored with my advisor Dr. Prakash Mondal, is set to be published in the "Handbook of Linguistic Semantics: Bridging Theory, Philosophy, and Cognition" by Springer Nature
07/23: Selected for two summer schools in Greece and Russia
07/23: Successfully attended the FEAL 2023 Summer School, Chemnitz, Germany (online)
07/23: Successfully completed the 3-week intensive Deep Learning course at Neuromatch Academy
07/23: Attended the ACL 2023 conference (virtual)
07/23: I am now a member of the Cognitive Science Society (CSS)
07/23: I am now a member of Women in Cognitive Science
07/23: Successfully attended V-NYI # 7: The NYI Global Institute of Cultural, Cognitive, and Linguistic Studies
07/23: Granted a Full Fee Waiver to attend the ACL 2023 conference virtually
07/23: Selected for FEAL 2023 Summer School
06/23: I am now a member of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL)
06/23: Full waiver granted for attending the NMA Deep Learning course
05/23: Accepted for the Neuromatch (NMA) "Deep Learning" course, 2023
05/23: The paper presented at PACLIC36 has been published in ACL-Anthology
04/23: My award news is now published on the IITH website under "Student Highlights"
03/23: Won the "Best Presentation" award for my talk at the 5th ICNLP, 2023
03/23: Presented the paper co-authored with my advisor Dr. Prakash Mondal, On the Implementation of the Algorithm for the Representation of Discontinuity in Natural Language at the 5th ICNLP 2023
02/23: Paper accepted at the 5th ICNLP 2023
10/22: Presented the paper co-authored with my advisor Dr. Prakash Mondal, The Representation of Discontinuity and the Correspondence Principle at PACLIC36 (Online)
08/22: Paper accepted at PACLIC36