International Webinar on Computational Linguistics

The Department of Linguistics & English, University of Jaffna in collaboration with the INFITT - International Forum for Information Technology in Tamil, organized a one-day International Webinar on the 10^th of November 2020.

Theme of the Webinar: Tamil Computational Linguistics

Experts from the USA and Paris, France were invited as resource persons to speak on topics related to the theme of this International Webinar.

Dr. K. Suthakar, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts was present at the Webinar. He congratulated the Department of Linguistics & English on organizing this Webinar and wished the Webinar success.

Prof (Mrs). S. Ramesh (Professor in Linguistics, Dept. of Linguistics & English, University of Jaffna) served as the coordinator of this webinar. The webinar began with Introductory Remarks by Mr. K. Sarvesvaran (Lecturer, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Jaffna. Prof. Appasamy Murugaiyan, (School of Advanced Studies (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes), Faculty of History and Philology, Paris University, France and Chairman of the Advisory Committee in INFITT) delivered his presentation on Tamil Corpus Linguistics.

Prof. Vasu Renganathan who is an academic attached to the Department of South Asia Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA and Executive Member and Joint Treasurer of INFITT gave his talk on A Course in Computational Linguistics: Curriculum Design and Approaches.

More than 85 participants benefited from this Webinar. The students’ participation was very much appreciated. Students in their third and final years who are studying Linguistics and a few students from the Translation Studies program actively participated in this Webinar. The academic staff attached to the Department of Linguistics & English, University of Jaffna and academics attached to the University of Kelaniya and University of Moratuwa and international scholars from some India, Germany, Paris, Sydney and the UK also attended this Webinar.

Mr. S. Wimal, the Head of the Dept. of Linguistics and English at the University of Jaffna Mr. S. Wimal proposed the vote of thanks and expressed his gratitude to all who worked hard towards making this Webinar a successful event.