International Conference on Corpus Linguistics ICAME47 at the University of Koblenz: Language Research Meets Artificial Intelligence

The conference focused on innovative approaches at the intersection of English corpus linguistics and artificial intelligence (AI). Large Language Models (LLMs), which today power applications such as chatbots, machine translation services, and speech recognition systems, are trained on vast collections of written and spoken language, also known as corpora. These corpora, which have been developed and analysed in corpus linguistics for decades, provide a foundation for modern AI applications while simultaneously opening up new perspectives for linguistic research.

The long-established conference is regarded as one of the leading international events in the field of English corpus linguistics. The scientific programme featured four plenary lectures by internationally renowned scholars, five specialised workshops, and around 150 peer-reviewed research presentations, poster sessions, and software demonstrations. Thematically, the conference covered a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from corpus and computational linguistics to natural language processing, data science, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and second language acquisition, all in the context of current developments in artificial intelligence.

Among the key research themes were the analysis of the language produced by Large Language Models (LLMs), the identification and examination of linguistic features that distinguish AI-generated texts from human-written texts, and the investigation of (AI-generated) misinformation and fake news on social media, including methods for their automated detection and tracking. Other contributions explored the use of AI-based methods for the processing and analysis of historical language data. These examples illustrate only a small part of the wide range of research topics presented at the conference.

The plenary speakers were Laurence Anthony (Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan), Jonathan Culpeper (Lancaster University, England), Jane Stuart-Smith (University of Glasgow, Scotland), and Natalia Levshina (Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands). In their keynote lectures, they highlighted current developments in corpus linguistics and AI research, as well as the growing integration of these two fields. The award for the best poster presentation by an early-career researcher was presented to Xingni Li of the University of Oxford, while the award for the best conference paper presentation was awarded to Cheryl Yeo of the Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich.

Beyond the scientific programme, the conference offered numerous opportunities for international exchange and networking. The social programme included a conference warming on the Fortress Ehrenbreitstein, a river cruise through the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage region, and a festive conference dinner in Koblenz’s historic old town. The overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants highlighted both the academic quality of the event and the attractiveness of Koblenz as a conference venue.

“The ICAME47 conference has demonstrated impressively how closely corpus linguistics, digital language research, and artificial intelligence are interconnected today. At the same time, it provided an excellent opportunity to strengthen international research networks and to showcase the University of Koblenz as a centre for innovative linguistic research,” concluded Andreas Weilinghoff, Junior Professor of English Linguistics and head of the international organising committee.

The conference was organised by an interdisciplinary team from the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Koblenz. With the successful hosting of ICAME47, the University of Koblenz continues the long-standing tradition of the international conference series, which has been held since 1977, while further strengthening its international profile in the field of digital language research. Previous conferences were held in Vigo, Spain (ICAME45), and Vilnius, Lithuania (ICAME46). The next edition of the conference series, ICAME48, will take place from 18 to 22 May 2027 in Helsinki, Finland.