Computational Models of Semantic Change

This chapter provides an overview of key considerations when using computational methods to scan digital text for evidence of semantic change. It lays out the foundations of the field, from the distributional hypothesis to the methods employed and the resources available. It also shows how the computational study of semantic change relates to and supplements the corresponding field of historical linguistics. Computational approaches to semantic change are a relatively new field of study where much remains to be done. Therefore, we end by discussing future research directions and possible extensions of the field to address changing cultural and societal phenomena encoded in text.