Språkbanken & Swe-Clarin

To the best of our knowledge, human language is unique. It pervades and defines all aspects of our existence. With respect to science, language displays a conspicuous duality, as it doubles as an object of study in itself and as a tool for scientific investigation.The proposed Språkbanken & SWE-CLARIN infrastructure reflects this dual role, built as it is on a fundament of language resources and language technology, to provide support to research in language technology, and Swedish and general linguistics, on the one hand. On the other hand, it supports any field where language is a primary research data source: humanities and social sciencies, cognitive science, psychology, interaction and communication, artificial intelligence, teaching and learning, and medical research, to mention but a few current areas where language data plays a central role.Language technology (LT) is the common name for a spectrum of technologies, tools, algorithms, etc., which enable computers to deal with language in all its manifestations – speech, writing and sign. In a recent broad survey of the state of LT in Sweden, the conclusion was that while Swedish is well equipped in some respects, Swedish LT is still far from the level of support available for English. The situation for the official minority languages and Swedish Sign Language are much worse. Språkbanken & SWE-CLARIN aims to improve this state of affairs, with profound positive effects on Swedish research and society.