Medieval Irish and computational linguistics
Teresa Lynn · Dublin City University Open Access Institutional Repository (Dublin City University) · 2012
This paper will consider the application of some NLP (Natural Language Processing) techniques to Medieval Irish texts to provide an alternative perspective on linguistic analyses of such texts. Using Táin Bó Fraích as a case study, I present the outcome of some preliminary experiments. The pilot study starts with the creation of an annotated lexicon as a basis of automated text analysis. Linguistic features such as part of speech information are recorded in a machine-readable representation to assist with subsequent linguistic analysis of this well-studied text. Using CELT’s electronic version of Meid’s 1974 edition, I conduct both statistical and linguistic analyses of textual features such as sentence structure, lexical frequency and grammatical types. I use the results of this analysis to raise some tentative suggestions regarding Táin Bó Fraích, and in particular the frequently noted relationship between the two distinct sections. On this basis I hope to make some suggestions about the potential usefulness of applying some NLP techniques to Medieval Irish.