NLP for Arabic and related languages

Arabic natural language processing (NLP) is a challenging field of research. This is due to many factors including Arabic’s complex and rich morphology, its high degree of ambiguity as well as the presence of a number of dialects that vary quite widely. Furthermore, Arabic has many important geopolitical connections and is spoken by over 400 million people in countries with varying degrees of prosperity and stability. Arabic in its standard form, known as Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), is one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations. It is the primary language of the latest world refugee problem affecting the Middle East and Europe. The opportunities that are made possible by working on this language and its dialects cannot be underestimated in their consequence on the Arab World, the Mediterranean Region and the rest of the world.