CFP: Procedures in Discourse Interpretation

[Andrea Sanso']

			    * CALL FOR PAPERS *

                            EUROLAN'99 Workshop

                   Procedures in Discourse Interpretation
                 http://www.humnet.unipi.it/~wpdi/main.html

                        held as part of EUROLAN'99
                                 July 19/31
                           A.I. Cuza University
                               Iasi - Romania
                      http://www.infoiasi.ro/~eurolan99


DESCRIPTION

Our comprehension of the intended meaning of a discourse act, of the
semantics of discourse segments, and of the coherence relations holding
between them, relies on different types of knowledge, like the meaning of
lexical items, domain-specific knowledge, commonsense knowledge, the
particular view of the context, etc.

During the process of discourse interpretation, specific procedures are
activated, which, by manipulating in a uniform manner all these pieces of
knowledge, carry out inferences and reasoning activities necessary to the
identification of the preferred reading.

The aim of this workshop is to provide a forum for discussing the
nature of such procedures and the way they access and manipulate the
relevant sources of knowledge. Theoretical issues like bridging, conflicts
between lexically based and discourse-based inference, presupposition and
anaphora resolution, and the relevance of cognitive constraints on
discourse interpretation are especially welcome.

Submissions are invited on, but not limited to, the following topics and
issues:

   * How can lexical clues lead to the preferred interpretation? How are
     underspecified lexical representations solved in discourse?
   * What is the semantic contribution of verbal and nominal classes to
     discourse structure?
   * How can inference on nominals and events be modeled?
   * Are lexical features arranged along a prominence and accessibility
     hierarchy? To what extent could such a hierarchy affect the
     accessibility of referents?
   * In a frame/semantics perspective, when analyzing discourse one
     activates several frames connected to meaningful elements: do these
     elements have the same status or, especially if ambiguities arise,
     are some frames computed first?
   * To what extent does world knowledge (whether or not it is encoded
     into the lexical structure of an item) affect the interpretation process
     w.r.t consistency and informativity? How is the knowledge of context
     involved?
   * Which are the relevant factors in evaluating informativity and
     consistency?

Prospective authors are encouraged to focus on procedural aspects in their
approaches to discourse interpretation. This will ensure that all
contributions share a common basis for discussion, notwithstanding their
differences in perspective.


WORKSHOP FORMAT

The workshop will consist of around twelve 20 min. presentations,
organized into 4 short sessions, each followed by 30 min. of discussion.
Some experienced discussants have been invited to comment and better
orient the discussion.

Participation to the workshop is open to all Eurolan'99 attendants.
Copies of workshop proceedings will be made available.


FORMAT FOR SUBMISSION

Authors are requested to submit an abstract. Electronic submission is
strongly encouraged. Send your electronic submission to:

WPDI at humnet.unipi.it

Maximum length is four A4 pages, including figures and references.
Abstracts should include in the first page title, authors
name(s), affiliation, complete mailing address, phone and fax number,
e-mail address and, optionally, up to five keywords.
If electronic submission is impossible, send four hardcopies
to the following address:

WPDI Committee
Department of Linguistics
University of Pisa
Via Santa Maria 36
56126 Pisa - Italy


IMPORTANT DATES

   * Abstract submission deadline: May 10
   * Notification of acceptance: May 31
   * Camera ready papers due: June 20


REGISTRATION

People wanting to attend the workshop must be registered in the Eurolan'99
School. For detailed information visit the school's site at
http://www.infoiasi.ro/~eurolan99/fee.html


ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Giacomo Ferrari - ferrari at zeus.vc.unipmn.it
Malvina Nissim - nissim at ling.unipi.it
Andrea Sanso' - sanso at ling.unipi.it
Claudia Soria - soria at ling.unipi.it
Feel free to contact us for any further information needed.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

   * Nicoletta Calzolari - Institute for Computational Linguistics-CNR,
     Italy (to be confirmed)
   * Dan Cristea - University "A.I. Cuza" of Iasi, Romania
   * Giacomo Ferrari - University of East Piemonte, Italy
   * Jerry Hobbs - SRI International, USA
   * Nancy Ide - Vassar College, USA
   * Daniel Marcu - ISI/University of Southern California, USA
   * Malvina Nissim - University of Pavia, Italy
   * Philip Resnik - University of Maryland, Linguistics and Computer
     Science, USA (to be confirmed)
   * Andrea Sanso' - University of Pavia, Italy
   * Claudia Soria - Institute for Computational Linguistics-CNR, Italy