Sara Budts
In addition to (historical) variational linguistics, my research interests include computer science in general and text mining in particular. My background in Artificial Intelligence made me acquainted with a number of techniques for Big Data Analysis and I would like to explore how these techniques can complement traditional methods of historical corpus research.
In 2014 I obtained an MA in Linguistics from the University of Leuven, with a specialization in English historical linguistics. The year after I completed the advanced MA of AI (Speech and Language Technology) at the same university. As part of this MA, I worked as an intern for Nuance Communications (Aachen, Germany), building a language model for compounds in German and Dutch speech recognition. From August to November 2015, I developed a website and search tool for the Uitleenwoordenbank at the Meertens Insitute (Amsterdam, The Netherlands).