Computational Linguistics Certificate

The Certificate in Computational Linguistics, offered by the Department of Linguistics and Language Development , is an 18 unit program that provides a basic education and a certain amount of practical training in the interdisciplinary field of computational linguistics. It was designed to meet the needs of individuals who desire formal course preparation as language analysts in the environment of human language interfaces in software development. Please contact the computational linguistics coordinator for advising before beginning this certificate.

University Basic Certificate Requirements

Basic certificate programs provide opportunities for students to pursue specialized, often pre-professional, focused educational objectives that may be separate from a degree program. At least 6 units must be completed at SJSU. Students must have a minimum GPA of 2.0 in basic certificate coursework in order to be awarded a certificate. Generally, a maximum of 33% of basic certificate units (e.g., 3 units for a 9-unit certificate) can be completed in non-matriculated status at SJSU with approval from the department or school. In some cases, a basic certificate may be completed entirely through Open University if the student has completed a Bachelor’s degree and received approval from the department or school (University Policy S16-17 A). If a student has completed a Bachelor’s degree and received approval from the department or school, a basic certificate may be completed entirely through Open University.

The advisor/director of the program is responsible for verifying a student’s satisfactory completion of the academic requirements established for the program and for forwarding a copy of the certificate completion form to the Office of the Registrar. The Office of the Registrar records the completion of the program on the student’s transcript.

To receive the Certificate in Computational Linguistics, students must complete the following 18 units of course work and fulfill the programming requirement:

Certificate Requirements (18 units)

LING 101 - Introduction to Linguistics 3 unit(s)
LING 115 - Corpus Linguistics 3 unit(s)
LING 124 - Introduction to Speech Technology 3 unit(s)
LING 165 - Introduction to Natural Language Processing 3 unit(s)

Electives (6 units)

CS 123A - Bioinformatics I 3 unit(s)
CS 123B - Bioinformatics II 3 unit(s)
CS 154 - Formal Languages and Computability 3 unit(s)
CS 156 - Introduction to Artificial Intelligence 3 unit(s)
LING 111 - Introduction to Linguistic Phonetics 3 unit(s)
LING 112 - Introduction to Syntax 3 unit(s)
LING 113 - Introduction to Phonology 3 unit(s)
LING 161 - Psycholinguistics 3 unit(s)
LING 166 - Sociolinguistics 3 unit(s)
MATH 105 - Concepts in Mathematics, Probability, Statistics 3 unit(s)
MATH 161A - Applied Probability and Statistics I 3 unit(s)
MATH 161B - Applied Probability and Statistics II 3 unit(s)
MATH 162 - Statistics for Bioinformatics 3 unit(s)
MATH 163 - Probability Theory 3 unit(s)
STAT 95 - Elementary Statistics 3 unit(s) (B4)
STAT 115 - Intermediate Statistics 3 unit(s)

Total Units Required (18 units)

Programming Requirement: Demonstrated competence with a programming language such as Java, C/C++, and Python. This requirement is to be satisfied by the time you complete the certificate program rather than before you begin the program. Students typically fulfill the requirement by submitting a final project in a course (e.g. LING 165 ) that involves a substantial amount of coding.

Any matriculated upper division undergraduate or graduate student may pursue this certificate. Non-matriculated students may take the courses through Open University. Students must maintain a 3.0 average in these courses to be awarded the certificate.

Prerequisites for Courses: CS and MATH courses above have prerequisites of their own, so the total number of units you must take for the certificate may vary depending on your choice of electives and your academic background.