15.1017, Calls: General Ling/Italy; General Ling/Canada

Sat Mar 27 13:42:33 UTC 2004

LINGUIST List:  Vol-15-1017. Sat Mar 27 2004. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 15.1017, Calls: General Ling/Italy; General Ling/Canada

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1)
Date:  Thu, 25 Mar 2004 10:19:00 -0500 (EST)
From:  di_sciullo.anne-marie at uqam.ca
Subject:  Interfaces Conference

2)
Date:  Fri, 26 Mar 2004 01:05:34 -0500 (EST)
From:  jcb at interchange.ubc.ca
Subject:  39th International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 25 Mar 2004 10:19:00 -0500 (EST)
From:  di_sciullo.anne-marie at uqam.ca
Subject:  Interfaces Conference

Interfaces Conference
Short Title: Interfaces

Date: 30-Jul-2004 - 31-Jul-2004
Location: Pescara, Italy
Contact: Anna Maria Di Sciullo
Contact Email: di_sciullo.anne-marie at uqam.ca
Meeting URL:

Linguistic Sub-field: General Linguistics
Call Deadline: 20-Apr-2004

Meeting Description:

The properties of the interfaces between the grammar and the external
systems (conceptual and sensorimotor) are of central
importance. Current researches point to the crucial role of the
relations underlying interface representations for interpretation. The
study of these relations has been a research topic in a number of
disciplines including theoretical and computational linguistics, as
well as bio, psycho and neurolinguistics. Strong hypotheses on the
symmetric (reversible) and asymmetric (irreversible) properties of
interface relations are at the core of the recent scientific debate
(Chomsky 2000, 2001, Kayne 2003, Moro 2000, 2003). Does grammar treat
symmetric and asymmetric relations equally? What type of empirical
evidence can be regarded as valid in order to define the nature of the
relations in question?  What kind of link exists between symmetric and
asymmetric relations and what factors determine their interpretation
by the external systems? Is there a determining property of the
relations that ensures optimal interpretation? The recognition of the
decisive role of asymmetric relations (precedence, dominance,
c-command) in grammar has led to the elaboration of a model in which
grammatical operations are defined in terms of symmetry and asymmetry
(Chomsky 1993, 1995, 2001). The importance of these relations in the
derivation of different types of grammatical objects resulted in the
formulation of a theory where the primes are minimal asymmetric
relations (Di Sciullo 2000, 2003).

Computational implementations of asymmetric relations are already
available (Marcus 1980, Berwick and Weinberg 1984, Berwick 1985, 1991,
Di Sciullo and Fong 2002, Fong 1991, to appear). The questions that
these research raise are: the nature of the connection between the
grammar and the parser, the reduction of computational complexity and
processing time. A relational Interface model facilitates the
development of a new paradigm in natural language processing and leads
to a new generation of related technological applications.  Indeed,
the actual paradigm is based on the processing of units such as
characters, chains of characters, keywords, etc. without taking into
account the basic relational properties of natural language, thus
leading to non optimal results. This goes through the whole range of
applications in information technology from language processing
systems (recognition and generation) to information content processing
systems (research and information retrieval, question-answering
automatic systems, summaries production, etc.). The current challenge
in the area of information retrieval and extraction is
optimisation. The development of a new generation of search engines
which process information based on relations instead of singular
elements is a step forward.  The work on automatic question-answering
systems that cover a set of asymmetric relations specific to natural
languages is also important (Katz 1997, Di Sciullo and Aguero
2003). The orientation of rhetoric processing towards the recovery of
asymmetric textual and syntactic relations, instead of text
typography, contributes to the change of the paradigm (Marcu 2000,
Espanol-Echevarria 2003). If it is true that conceptual processing of
linguistic expressions is based on irreversible relations of Universal
Grammar, incorporation of these relations in information processing
systems can only improve their performance and bring them closer to
human performance.

This conference on Interfaces presents an opportunity for researchers
to meet and discuss current issues on the properties of the Interfaces
in theoretical linguistics and computational linguistics.

Call for papers :		
Interfaces Conference
within IPSI-2004 (July 28 - August 2, 2004) Pescara, Italy

Abstracts are invited for thirty-minute talks (twenty minutes for
presentation plus ten minutes for discussion). A limited number of
oral presentations will be selected.

Please Submit:
a one-page abstract, 11 pt. single-line spacing, to :

Interfaces Conference Committee
DÃ©partement de linguistique
UniversitÃ© du QuÃ©bec Ã  MontrÃ©al
Case Postale 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville
MontrÃ©al, Qc, H3C 3P8
Canada

Specify oral presentation or demo.

Send abstracts by FAX to:  +514 - 987- 0377
or (preferably) by e-mail to: di_sciullo.anne-marie at uqam.ca
Electronic submissions are encouraged; abstracts should be attached in
plain text format or as Word files.

DEADLINE
All submissions must be received by April  20, 2004.
Notification of acceptance will be e-mailed in mid-May.

IMPORTANT DATES

April 20, 2004: deadline for abstracts
May 10, 2004: notification of acceptance
July 30-31, 2004: conference

Organizers : 			
Anna Maria Di Sciullo
UniversitÃ© du QuÃ©bec Ã  MontrÃ©al			

Sponsors:		
The Federation on Natural Language Processing
Valorisation-Recherche QuÃ©bec
The Natural Language Processing Project

-------------------------------- Message 2 -------------------------------

Date:  Fri, 26 Mar 2004 01:05:34 -0500 (EST)
From:  jcb at interchange.ubc.ca
Subject:  39th International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages

39th International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages
Short Title: ICSNL

Date: 11-Aug-2004 - 13-Aug-2004
Location: North Vancouver, Canada
Contact: Jason Brown
Contact Email:

Linguistic Sub-field: General Linguistics
Subject Language Family: Salishan
Call Deadline: 28-May-2004

Meeting Description:

The 39th International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages
will be hosted by the Squamish Nation and will take place in North
Vancouver, British Columbia on August 11-13 Salish Conference
Announcement

Announcement and Call for Papers
39th International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages
North Vancouver, British Columbia
August 11-13, 2004

This year's conference will be hosted by the Squamish Nation and will
take place in North Vancouver, British Columbia on August
11-13. Papers on all aspects of the study, preservation, and teaching
of Salish and neighboring languages are welcome.

This year's conference is being coordinated with the first-ever
Wakashan Linguistics conference, to be held August 9-11 at the
University of British Columbia. Both conferences will share August
11th in North Vancouver for a day of talks on language revitalization
& pedagogy.

Papers for the ICSNL should be submitted by Friday, May 28, 2004, and
will be printed and distributed prior to the conference by the
University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics, as was
done last year. There are no page limits.  Electronic submissions are
encouraged.  Word files with any special fonts will be accepted;
however, PDF files are preferred.  A style sheet is available at
http://www.linguistics.ubc.ca/UBCWPL/. Contact the editors at
Linguistics-UBCWPL at arts.ubc.ca for updated information.

Papers should be submitted to:

The editors:
ICSNL 39, 2004
UBCWPL
c/o Department of Linguistics, UBC
E-270 1866 Main Mall
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z1
Canada.

Information on ordering the preprints, as well as information about
the conference itself will follow in a separate announcement.

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