About LDC

The Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) is an open consortium of universities, libraries, corporations and government research laboratories. LDC was formed in 1992 to address the critical data shortage then facing language technology research and development. The Advanced Research Projects Agency provided seed funding for the Consortium and the National Science Foundation provided additional support via Grant IRI-9528587 from the Information and Intelligent Systems division.

Initially, LDC's primary role was as a repository and distribution point for language resources. Since that time, and with the help of its members, LDC has grown into an organization that creates and distributes a wide array of language resources. LDC also supports sponsored research programs and language-based technology evaluations by providing resources and contributing organizational expertise.

LDC is hosted by the University of Pennsylvania and is a center within the University’s School of Arts and Sciences. LDC’s connection with Penn provides a strong foundation for the Consortium’s research and outreach to an active and diverse member community.