Semarang, 17-august-2026

As part of the celebration of the launch of the new LANA Corpus of spoken conversational American English, a series of free to attend events are being held at Hong Kong Polytechnic University on the 16th and 17th September 2026. On the 16th, an event in the morning will launch the LANA corpus, present details of how to download it, discuss its compilation and highlight some early results from the corpus. People can register to attend this event in person or online.

In the afternoon of the 16th, Prof. Vaclav Brezina will provide a workshop on the use of the #LancsBox tool - this is an in person only event.

On the 17th, a full day of talks on corpus-based research will take place with registration available for both in person and online attendance.

To register for the event, visit: https://polyu.hk/RstBb

Face to face attendees will find details of the venue (Hung Hom Bay Campus) on the registration page. Online attendees will be sent joining instructions after registration. Details of the events are given below. Note that the timings given are for Hong Kong. We hope to see colleagues old and new both in person and online next month,

Tony McEnery

16th September - morning, LANA Launch Event

9:00-9:15 Introduction, Prof. Anthony McEnery, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

9:15-10:15 Building LANA-CASE: Spoken Corpus Design, Compilation, and Lessons Learned, Dr Elizabeth Hanks

10:15-11:15 Is Casual Conversation Linguistically similar to Other Spoken Registers? Prof. Tove Larsson, Northern Arizona University

11:15-11:45 Coffee Break

11:45-12:45 and I was like wait what? The Language of Gen Z Americans, Prof. Paul Baker, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

12:45-13:00 Accessing LANA, Prof. Anthony McEnery, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University & Prof. Vaclav Brezina, Lancaster University

16th September - afternoon 14:00-17:00

#LancsBox Workshop, Prof. Vaclav Brezina, Lancaster University

17th September - all day, symposium

9:00-10:00 Evaluating Chatbot Authenticity in Simulations of Spoken Interaction, Prof. Vaclav Brezina, Lancaster University

10:00-11:00 Changes in the Register of Conversation over Time - a Discourse Unit Approach, Prof. Anthony McEnery, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

11:00-11:15 Coffee Break

11:15-12:15 Using Corpora to Analyse Health Communication: A Study of the R/Dementia

Subreddit, Dr Gavin Brookes, Lancaster University

12:15-13:15 When Does a Clause Become a Story? Tracing Discourse Across Languages and Centuries, Dr Hanna Schmück, University of Augsburg

13:00-14:00 Lunch Break

14:00-15:00 Surprise Words and Core Words: Using Vibe Coding to Identify Collocational Divergence Across Corpora, Prof. Paul Baker, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

15:00-15:15 Coffee Break

15:15-16:15 Comparing and Contrasting in Corpus Linguistics, Dr Niall Curry, University of Birmingham

16:15-17:15 Getting on the Same Wavelength: Synergising Text, Sound, and Vision in Corpus Design, Dr Samuel Schmück, Lancaster University

Semarang, 10 August 2026 — The Master’s Program in Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities (FIB), Universitas Diponegoro (UNDIP), welcomed a delegation from Politeknik Negeri Indramayu led by Dr. Ir. Mohammad Yani, S.T., M.T., M.Sc., Head of the Center for Research and Community Service (P3M) at Politeknik Negeri Indramayu. The visit provided an opportunity to discuss the potential development of AI-based computational linguistics research for the Indramayu dialect of Javanese.

The delegation from Politeknik Negeri Indramayu held discussions with Prihantoro, S.S., M.A., Ph.D., Head of the Master’s Program in Linguistics at UNDIP. The discussion focused on the development of computational resources to support research and documentation of the Indramayu dialect of Javanese through computational linguistics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

Several technical topics were discussed, including the development of a parallel corpus and corpus alignment, Part-of-Speech (POS) tagging, Named Entity Recognition (NER), as well as mechanisms for linguistic data verification and validation. The development of these resources is considered important not only for linguistic research but also as a foundation for developing various language- and AI-based applications.

The discussion also highlighted the importance of structured and high-quality linguistic data as computational resources. Well-documented data can serve as a foundation for developing Natural Language Processing (NLP) models and applications, while also supporting efforts to preserve and promote the use of regional languages in the digital era.

In addition to the technical aspects, the meeting also briefly explored prospects for scholarly publications and opportunities for further collaboration. Collaboration between higher education institutions is expected to generate joint research that contributes both to the development of language technologies and to linguistic studies of regional languages, particularly the Indramayu dialect of Javanese.

Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at UNDIP, Prof. Dr. Alamsyah, M.Hum expressed his appreciation for the visit and the collaborative initiative from Politeknik Negeri Indramayu. He emphasized that such meetings are important for expanding academic networks and bringing together different areas of expertise to foster research innovation.

The visit also highlighted the importance of inter-university collaboration in responding to developments in artificial intelligence and language technology. Through cross-institutional and interdisciplinary collaboration, the development of linguistic technologies is expected not only to promote innovation but also to contribute to the documentation, preservation, and use of regional languages in Indonesia.

The Master’s Program in Linguistics at UNDIP continues to promote linguistic research that incorporates digital technologies, corpus linguistics, and artificial intelligence as part of its efforts to strengthen linguistic research that is relevant to technological developments and societal needs.