Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2026 - CMPT 413 D100

Computational Linguistics (3)

Class Number: 5469

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 5 – Apr 10, 2026: Mon, 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

    Jan 5 – Apr 10, 2026: Wed, 10:30–11:20 a.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    Completion of nine units in Computing Science upper division courses or, in exceptional cases, permission of the instructor.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

This course examines the theoretical and applied problems of constructing and modelling systems, which aim to extract and represent the meaning of natural language sentences or of whole discourses, but drawing on contributions from the fields of linguistics, cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence and computing science.

COURSE DETAILS:

Imagine a world where you can pick up a phone and talk in English, while at the other end of the line your words are spoken in Chinese. Imagine a computer animated representation of yourself speaking fluently what you have written in an email. Imagine instructing a robot to prepare your backpack for you. Imagine automatically uncovering protein/drug interactions in petabytes of medical abstracts. Imagine feeding a computer an ancient script that no living person can read, then listening as the computer reads aloud in this dead language. Natural Language Processing is the automatic analysis of human languages such as English, Korean, and thousands of others analyzed by computer algorithms that can make these applications possible. Unlike artificially created programming languages where the structure and meaning of programs is easy to encode, human languages provide an interesting challenge, both in terms of its analysis and the learning of language from observations.   

This course is an introduction to NLP and will cover algorithms and techniques for processing text (using probabilistic models and neural networks) as well as basic linguistic concepts.  A strong background in math probability, linear algebra, calculus is necessary. Students must also be comfortable with programming and implementing algorithms (coding assignments will be in Python and Pytorch). In addition, familiarity with basic machine learning and deep learning concepts are highly recommended.

Topics

  • Language models
  • Word representations
  • Supervised machine learning for NLP
  • Neural models for NLP
  • Sequence labeling
  • Machine translation
  • Parsing and semantics
  • NLP applications

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

At the conclusion of the course, the student is expected to gain an understanding of the algorithms and techniques used in NLP, including how computers represent words and the modeling of text as sequences, and the mathematics of machine learning models (e.g. language models, RNNs, transformers) commonly used in NLP and how they are trained.  In addition, students will also gain knowledge about basic NLP tasks such as part-of-speech tagging and parsing, and how NLP models are used in applications such as machines translation.

Grading

NOTES:

Grading will be based on assignments, final project and class participation. Details will be announced during the first week of classes.

Students must attain an overall passing grade on the weighted average of exams in the course in order to obtain a clear pass (C- or better).

REQUIREMENTS:

In addition to completion of nine units in Computing Science upper division courses, you are expected to be familiar with the following:

  • Proficiency in Python - Programming assignments will be in python (numpy and pytorch will be used).
  • Calculus and Linear Algebra (MATH 151, MATH 232/240) - You will need to be comfortable with taking multivariable derivatives
  • Basic Probability and Statistics (CMPT 210 or STAT 270)
  • Basic Machine Learning (CMPT 410) is strongly recommended 

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

Reference Books


This course makes use of freely accessible online materials. These resources are provided for personal learning and teaching only.
Students must comply with the copyright and terms of use set by the rights holders.

REQUIRED READING:

Speech and Language Processing (3rd ed)
Dan Jurafsky and James H. Martin, 2025.
https://web.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/slp3/


RECOMMENDED READING:

Deep Learning
Ian Goodfellow and Yoshua Bengio and Aaron Courville
MIT Press
2016

https://www.deeplearningbook.org/
ISBN: 9780262035613

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Department Undergraduate Notes:

The following are default policies in the School of Computing Science. Please check your course syllabus whether the instructor has chosen a different policy for your class, otherwise the following policies apply.
 
  • Students must attain an overall passing grade on the weighted average of exams in the course in order to get a C- or higher.
  • All student requests for accommodations for their religious practices must be made in writing by the end of the first week of classes, or no later than one week after a student adds a course. After considering a request, an instructor may provide a concession or may decline to do so. Students requiring accommodations as a result of a disability can contact the Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca).

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.