Mathematical Foundations of Language (06SM274n701)

Lothar Sebastian Krapp
Lothar Sebastian Krapp
Last updated 
Entry in UZH Course Catalogue

Fall Semester 2025
Times: Thursday 14:00–15:30
Room: AND 2.48
Language: English

Written exam:
Thursday, 11 December 2025, 14:00–15:30

Deadlines
  • Problem sheet 1: Thursday, 16 October 2025, 14:00 (via e-mail or in person)
  • Problem sheet 2: Thursday, 30 October 2025, 14:00 (via e-mail or in person)
  • Problem sheet 3: Thursday, 13 November 2025, (via e-mail or in person)
  • Problem sheet 4: Thursday, 27 November 2025, (via e-mail or in person)

Dates:
  1. Thursday, 18 September 2025, 14:00–15:30: Organisation and overview
  2. Thursday, 25 September 2025, 14:00–15:30: Graph Theory
  3. Thursday, 02 October 2025, 14:00–15:30: Problem sheet 1
  4. Thursday, 09 October 2025, 14:00–15:30:
  5. Thursday, 16 October 2025, 14:00–15:30: Problem sheet 2
  6. Thursday, 23 October 2025, 14:00–15:30:
  7. Thursday, 30 October 2025, 14:00–15:30: Problem sheet 3
  8. Thursday, 06 November 2025, 14:00–15:30:
  9. Thursday, 13 November 2025, 14:00–15:30: Problem sheet 4
  10. Thursday, 20 November 2025, 14:00–15:30:
  11. Thursday, 27 November 2025, 14:00–15:30:
  12. Thursday, 04 December 2025, 14:00–15:30: Repetition and questions
  13. Thursday, 11 December 2025, 14:00–15:30: Written Exam
  14. Thursday, 18 December 2025, 14:00–15:30: Exam review


Topics covered:
  • network and graph theory
  • combinatorics and probability theory
  • game theory
  • information theory
  • recursion and complexity theory
  • formal language theory
  • additional topic: formalisations of hierarchies in language and action (order theory)
  • additional topic: statistical learning within machine learning
  • additional topics: set theory and measure theory
  • additional topics: derivation of Zipf's Law
  • further additional topics: depending on students' research focus

Literature:
[Topic in brackets] indicates relevant parts of the lecture.
  • A. Kornai, Mathematical Linguistics (Springer, London, 2008). [General resource]
  • R. J. Wilson, Introduction to Graph Theory, 5th edn (Pearson, Harlow, 2010). [Graph Theory]
  • S. Müller, Grammatical theory, 5th edn (Language Science Press, Berlin, 2023). [Graph Theory]
  • further sources to follow


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