Bridging Linguistics and Computational Linguistics: Insights into Synergies and Challenges from a Case Study

This paper outlines the evolving interplay between Linguistics and Computational Linguistics, aiming to map the current state of their interactions and to identify areas where deeper integration could drive significant advancements in both areas. Since the early days of Computational Linguistics as an autonomous discipline, the synergy has developed in parallel with progress in both computational methods and linguistic theory. Computational modeling of language offers a powerful framework to investigate core questions of linguistics, from how language works and is acquired, to how it changes across time, space, communicative situations, and domains. Despite this potential, the capabilities of state-of-the-art computational methods remain only partially exploited within linguistic research, leaving a gap between advances in Natural Language Processing and the needs of linguistics. This paper seeks to examine the current landscape of this synergy, its scientific and practical implications, and the challenges that must be addressed to fully harness its potential. A pilot study is presented to illustrate how linguistic resources and computational modeling can provide answers to long-standing research questions and, at the same time, open up new avenues for investigating open issues in language typology.