North American Computational Linguistics Open (NALCO)

Are you are high school student who likes solving puzzles? In this post I spotlight an annual linguistics/computational linguistics contest for US and Canadian high schools students.

Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field concerned with the computational modeling of natural language, as well as the study of appropriate computational approaches to linguistic questions (source:wikipedia).

Natural languages, as the name implies, are languages that have evolved naturally over time. It is the way we communicate naturally. Computer modeling of natural languages is relevant because it enables computers to talk to humans. The result is called natural language processing. Some direct applications of natural language processing (NLP) include speech-to-text applications, voice prompted customer service phone systems, and chat online store chat functions. NLP is already all around us and will only continue to grow in importance.

For high school students who like logic, computer science, linguistics and languages, NALCO is a fun way to begin to gain exposure to computational linguistics—a field that combines all of these interests—and natural language processing. The contest is really about analytical reasoning and problem solving. No previous experience is necessary!

This annual contest begins with an open round in January. Students who perform well move onto an invitational round. Winners of NACLO are eligible to compete in the International Linguistics Olympiad, one of twelve international high school science Olympiads.

Learn more about this unique linguistics opportunity here.