LFG 2004: Final Call for Papers

[Tara Mohanan]

                Final Call for Papers: LFG 2004

     2004 INTERNATIONAL LEXICAL FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR CONFERENCE

                       DATES 10-12 July 2004

                     Christchurch, New Zealand

      Abstract submission receipt deadline: 15 February 2004
     Submissions should be sent to the LFG Program Committee
                       (see addresses below)

Conference website: http://www-lfg.stanford.edu/lfg/lfg2004/

The 9th International Lexical Functional Grammar Conference will be hosted
by the Department of Linguistics, University of Canterbury, in Christchurch,
New Zealand from 10 to 12 July 2004.  A pre-conference activity is planned
for 9 July.

For the week preceding the conference weekend (4-8 July 2004), a Winter
School in LFG and computational linguistics is planned.  See the end of this
CFP for further details.

LFG 2004 welcomes work within the formal architecture of Lexical-Functional
Grammar as well as typological, formal, and computational work within the
'spirit of LFG' as a lexicalist approach to language employing a parallel,
constraint-based framework. The conference aims to promote interaction and
collaboration among researchers interested in non-derivational approaches to
grammar, where grammar is seen as the interaction of (perhaps violable)
constraints from multiple levels of structuring, including those of
syntactic categories, grammatical relations, semantics and discourse.
Further information about LFG as a syntactic theory is available at
the following sites:

 http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/LFG/
 http://www-lfg.stanford.edu/lfg/


SUBMISSIONS: TALKS AND POSTERS

The main conference sessions will involve 40-minute talks (30 min. + 10 min.
discussion), and poster/system presentations. Contributions should focus on
results from completed as well as ongoing research, with an emphasis on
novel approaches, methods, ideas, and perspectives, whether descriptive,
theoretical, formal or computational. Presentations should describe
original, unpublished work.


DISSERTATION SESSION

We plan to hold a special session for students to present recent PhD
dissertations (or other student research dissertations). The dissertations
must be completed by the time of the conference, and they should be made
publicly accessible (e.g., on the World Wide Web). The talks in this session
should provide an overview of the contents of the dissertation; the time
slots for the presentations will be 30 minutes in total. The International
LFG Association (ILFGA) will pay the conference fees for the students
presenting at the student session.

Students should note that the main sessions are certainly also open to
student submissions.


WORKSHOPS

We also invite proposals for workshops -- a small group of talks (2-4) on a
coherent topic that can be expected to generate opposing views and
discussion with the broader audience. Panelists for workshops are usually
determined by the workshop organizers. Workshop papers should
be distributed in advance among panelists so they can cross-reference one
another's approaches.

At this point in time, we welcome suggestions for workshops from potential
organisers or people with specific interests. The suggestions should be sent
to the local organizers at:
ida.toivonen at canterbury.ac.nz
asudeh at csli.stanford.edu


TIMETABLE

Deadline for abstracts:            15 February 2004
Acceptances sent out:            31 March 2004

Deadline for workshop submissions:    15 January 2004
Workshop acceptances:            15 February 2004

Conference:                10-12 July 2004


SUBMISSION SPECIFICATIONS

Abstracts for talks, posters and the dissertation session must be received
by February 15, 2004. All abstracts should be sent to the program committee
at the addresses given below. For workshops, further site information, or
offers of organisational help, contact the local organisers at the addresses
below.

Submissions should be in the form of abstracts only.  Abstracts can be up to
two A4 pages in 10pt or larger type and should include a title. Omit name
and affiliation, and obvious self reference.  Note: we no longer ask for a
separate page for data and figures (c-/f- and related structures).  They can
be included in the text of the abstract, obeying the overall two-page limit.

Abstracts may be submitted by email or by regular mail. Email submission is
preferred.

The following information should be provided on a separate page or in the
body of the email:

PAPER TITLE: __________________________________________

(for each author:)
 NAME:                _______________________________
 AFFILIATION:       _______________________________
 E-MAIL ADDRESS:    _______________________________
 IS AUTHOR A STUDENT? (Y/N) ___

(for author of contact:)
 MAIL ADDRESS:      _______________________________
                             _______________________________
 PHONE NUMBER:      _______________________________
 FAX NUMBER:        _______________________________

SESSION TYPE:        _________________________
(Should submission be considered for (1) either talk or poster, (2) only
talk, (3) only poster/demonstration, (4) dissertation session.)

(for dissertation session submissions:)
 UNIVERSITY:            _______________________________
 ADVISOR(S):            _______________________________
 (EXPECTED) DATE OF SUBMISSION: _______________________

(Note: In the absence of session type specification, submissions will be
considered for both the talk and the poster sessions, and the program
co-chairs may decide that certain submissions are better as poster
presentations than as read papers.)


Submission by Regular Mail:
Include:
    - Eight copies of the abstract/paper.
    - A card or cover sheet with author information.

Submission by Email:
Include the author information in the body of your email message. Include or
preferably attach your abstract. The preferred file formats are PDF or plain
ASCII. (If you cannot create PDF, HTML
and postscript will be accepted too. Postscript files require special care
to avoid problems: make sure your system is set to include all fonts, or at
least all but the standard 13; if using a recent version of Word, make sure
you click the printer Properties button and then the Postscript tab, and
there choose Optimize for Portability; on all platforms make sure the system
is not asking for a particular paper size or other device-specific
configuration. It is your responsibility to send us a file that we and our
reviewers can print. You can often test this by trying to look at the file
in a screen previewer such as Ghostview.)

Please copy your submission to both program co-chairs.

All abstracts will be reviewed by at least three people. Papers will appear
in the proceedings, which will be published online by CSLI Publications.
Selected papers may also appear in a printed volume published by CSLI
Publications.


ORGANISERS AND THEIR CONTACT ADDRESSES

Send abstract submissions and inquiries about submissions to:

Program Committee:

Email:   Jonas Kuhn jonask at mail.utexas.edu
           Tara Mohanan elltaram at nus.edu.sg

Mail:    LFG 2004
    c/o Tara Mohanan
    Department of English Language and Literature
    FASS Block 5, 7 Arts Link
    National University of Singapore
    Singapore 117570

Local conference organisers:

Email:    Ida Toivonen ida.toivonen at canterbury.ac.nz
             Ash Asudeh     asudeh at csli.stanford.edu

Fax:   +64 3 364 2969

Mail:    Ida Toivonen
    Department of Linguistics
    University of Canterbury
    Private Bag 4800
    Christchurch 8020
    New Zealand


LOCATION

Christchurch is the largest city on New Zealand's South Island and the
third-largest city in the country. Known as "the most English city outside
England", it features beautiful gothic architecture and stone buildings,
many green and flower-filled parks and gardens, and the serene Avon river
winding through its lively downtown and the University of Canterbury campus.
The city features terrific restaurants, the newly opened Christchurch Art
Gallery, Canterbury Museum, and the elegant and eclectic Arts Centre, set in
the old university buildings.  Christchurch is within two hours drive of
world-class skiing, rafting and kayaking, mountain biking, wind surfing, and
of course, bungy jumping. Calmer pursuits in the Canterbury region include
visiting local wineries, whale watching, fishing, and hiking.  Winter
weather is typically calm, sunny, cool and crisp, with occasional light
frosts.  The conference and Winter School will be held in downtown
Christchurch and on the University of Canterbury campus.

More information on Christchurch and the Canterbury region can be found at:
www.christchurch.org.nz

More information on the University of Canterbury can be found at:
www.canterbury.ac.nz


WINTER SCHOOL IN LFG AND COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS

A Winter School in LFG and computational linguistics is planned for 4 July
to 8 July 2004. Plans are for the school to feature:

   1.  A one-day intensive introduction to LFG and subsequent written
        and implemented exercise sessions. The goal of this section is:

       a. To give sufficient broad training in LFG for novices to
           participate more fully in the rest of the school and the LFG
           2004 conference.

       b. To give novices and researchers experienced in LFG
           theory practice in implementing computational LFG
           grammars.

   2.  A more advanced, issues-oriented computational linguistics
       course, taught from an LFG perspective but with broad relevance
       to the field of computational linguistics in general.

   3.  An advanced course or workshop on a topic of current interest to
        the LFG community.

   4.  Evening plenary lectures.

More detailed information is available at the winter school page:

http://www-lfg.stanford.edu/lfg/lfg2004/school/LFG-school.pdf