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Research Positions in the Semantics/Pragmatics of Dialogue<br>
at Université Paris-Diderot (Paris 7), FRANCE<br>
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The French-German (ANR/DFG) project Disfluencies, Exclamations, and<br>
Laughter in Dialogue (DUEL), joint between Université Paris-Diderot<br>
(PI: Jonathan Ginzburg) and the University of Bielefeld (PI: David<br>
Schlangen) are recruiting a researcher for a postdoctoral position in<br>
the Semantics/Pragmatics of Dialogue to be held at the Université<br>
Paris-Diderot (Paris 7). A PhD post at Paris associated with the<br>
project might also become available, subject to funding/selection (see<br>
below for details.).<br>
<br>
<br>
The project will involve collaborations with members of the<br>
Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle (LLF, <a href="http://www.llf.cnrs.fr/" target="_blank">http://www.llf.cnrs.fr</a> ) at<br>
Paris-Diderot (Paris 7, <a href="http://www.univ-paris-diderot.fr/" target="_blank">www.univ-paris-diderot.fr/</a>), with the<br>
Laboratory of Excellence LabEx-EFL (<a href="http://www.labex-efl.org/?q=en" target="_blank">http://www.labex-efl.org/?q=en</a>),<br>
and with members of the Dialogue Systems Group at Bielefeld University<br>
( <a href="http://www.dsg-bielefeld.de/" target="_blank">http://www.dsg-bielefeld.de</a> ).<br>
<br>
Over recent years much evidence has accumulated that disfluencies, far<br>
from being meaningless noise, contain much useful information that<br>
guides language users' actions and evaluations of their interlocuters'<br>
states of mind. Moreover, they exhibit rule-like regularities on all<br>
levels (including phonology, syntax, and semantics.). In DUEL we aim<br>
to show how disfluent speech across a number of languages (including<br>
French, German, English, and Chinese) can be analyzed in a precise way<br>
on the basis of formal grammatical tools, using this theory to guide<br>
the design of dialogue systems which can deal head on with disfluent<br>
speech, exploiting the information therein rather than filtering it<br>
away. DUEL will also tackle another phenomenon that has not hitherto<br>
received attention from formal grammarians, namely laughter. Our aim<br>
is to develop precise analyses of how laughter is integrated in the<br>
emergence of meaning, precise enough to enable dialogue systems that<br>
understand and respond to laughter to be implemented. The tools<br>
developed in DUEL to analyze disfluency and laughter, formalized using<br>
the dialogue framework KoS, will enable a variety of other dialogical<br>
phenomena that have been somewhat marginal to be analyzed, e,g,<br>
exclamations, tag questions, and corrective particles such as `No'.<br>
<br>
Paris is one of the world's greatest cities to visit and even more so<br>
to live and do research in. It hosts more than a dozen labs in the<br>
cognitive and language sciences and is within easy train/plane ride to<br>
the rest of Europe.<br>
<br>
Requirements for post-doctoral position:<br>
<br>
- Ph.D. (or completed by April 2014) in Formal Semantics, Natural<br>
Language Processing, Computational Linguistics<br>
- Strong publication record<br>
- Programming skills will be highly advantageous<br>
<br>
starting date: 1 April 2014<br>
Duration: 36 months<br>
Application deadline: January 15, 2014<br>
<br>
Interested candidates should send their CV and the names and contact<br>
information of 3 referees to Jonathan Ginzburg<br>
(<a href="mailto:yonatan.ginzburg@univ-paris-diderot.fr">yonatan.ginzburg@univ-paris-diderot.fr</a><br>
).<br>
<br>
PhD position:<br>
<br>
Candidates interested in a PhD position, which would start in<br>
September 2014, should note that this involves an application process<br>
via the Language Sciences Graduate School of Université Paris-Diderot<br>
in May-June 2014. More details from Jonathan Ginzburg<br>
(<a href="mailto:yonatan.ginzburg@univ-paris-diderot.fr">yonatan.ginzburg@univ-paris-diderot.fr</a><br>
).<br>
<br>
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