35.3053, Calls: The 1st Workshop on NLP for Languages Using Arabic Script

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-35-3053. Mon Nov 04 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.3053, Calls: The 1st Workshop on NLP for Languages Using Arabic Script

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Date: 31-Oct-2024
From: ِAmal Haddad Haddad [amalhaddad at ugr.es]
Subject: The 1st Workshop on NLP for Languages Using Arabic Script


Full Title: The 1st Workshop on NLP for Languages Using Arabic Script
Short Title: (AbjadNLP 2025)

Date: 19-Jan-2025 - 20-Jan-2025
Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Contact Person: Amal Haddad Haddad
Meeting Email: amalhaddad at ugr.es
Web Site: https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/abjad/

Linguistic Field(s): Computational Linguistics

Call Deadline: 15-Nov-2024

Meeting Description:

Submission URL: https://softconf.com/coling2025/AbjadNLP25/

Co-located with COLING 2025 Conference, Abu Dhabi, UAE (19-20 January
2025)

AbjadNLP is dedicated to advancing innovation and gaining deeper
insights into Natural Language Processing (NLP) for languages that use
the Arabic script. Our primary focus is on Abjad and Ajami languages
that utilise the Arabic script or its variations. Traditionally
associated with Semitic languages, Abjad scripts represent consonants
in every syllable. In contrast, Ajami scripts denote the alphabetic
use of the Arabic script in various African contexts, representing
non-Arabic languages. We are interested in research on languages that
fall under the Abjad or Ajami categories that use the Arabic script or
any variations of it.

We invite contributions, discussions, and explorations that delve deep
into the unique linguistic structures, resources, challenges, and
untapped potential presented by Abjad and Ajami languages within the
realm of NLP and language resources. Our goal is to create synergies
among researchers by addressing the diverse phenomena and challenges
inherent in these rich linguistic traditions.

The workshop is proud to highlight our connections with the Masakhane
NLP community and collaborations with institutions worldwide, such as
COMSATS on Urdu, and the long-standing UCREL NLP Group at Lancaster
University, whose work encompasses over 20 languages worldwide,
including Abjad and Ajami languages.

AbjadNLP 2025 aims to advance innovation in Natural Language
Processing (NLP) for languages using the Arabic script, focusing on
Abjad and Ajami languages. These languages represent a significant
segment of the global linguistic mosaic, spanning numerous countries
and regions. By focusing on these languages, we aim to enhance the
versatility and adaptability of NLP models and applications, fostering
multilingualism and multiculturalism in NLP research. This workshop
will address the unique challenges and solutions associated with these
languages, promoting inclusive and equitable advancements in NLP.

Ajami languages, representing a myriad of African languages that have
adopted the Arabic script, span at least 43 distinct languages,
including Hausa, Fulfulde, Mandingo, Swahili, Wolof, Kanuri, and
Tamazight. The combined number of speakers of these languages is
estimated to exceed 200 million within Africa alone. Although Abjad
has been traditionally associated with Semitic languages such as
Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac, it has been adopted for writing by many
other language communities as in Perso-Arabic scripts used in Persian,
Urdu, Pashto, Sorani Kurdish, Azeri Turkish, Sindhi, and Uyghur, with
a collective estimated speaker population exceeding 500 million.
Altogether, these languages represent an approximate global aggregate
of 1 billion speakers.

Final Call for Papers:

AbjadNLP 2025 (Deadline extension)

The 1st Workshop on NLP for Languages Using Arabic Script

Call for Papers: The 1st Workshop on NLP for Languages Using Arabic
Script (AbjadNLP 2025)
Co-located with COLING 2025 Conference, Abu Dhabi, UAE (19-20 January
2025)

Submission URL:https://softconf.com/coling2025/AbjadNLP25/

AbjadNLP is dedicated to advancing innovation and gaining deeper
insights into Natural Language Processing (NLP) for languages that use
the Arabic script. Our primary focus is on Abjad and Ajami languages
that utilise the Arabic script or its variations. Traditionally
associated with Semitic languages, Abjad scripts represent consonants
in every syllable. In contrast, Ajami scripts denote the alphabetic
use of the Arabic script in various African contexts, representing
non-Arabic languages. We are interested in research on languages that
fall under the Abjad or Ajami categories that use the Arabic script or
any variations of it.

We invite contributions, discussions, and explorations that delve deep
into the unique linguistic structures, resources, challenges, and
untapped potential presented by Abjad and Ajami languages within the
realm of NLP and language resources. Our goal is to create synergies
among researchers by addressing the diverse phenomena and challenges
inherent in these rich linguistic traditions.

The workshop is proud to highlight our connections with the Masakhane
NLP community and collaborations with institutions worldwide, such as
COMSATS on Urdu, and the long-standing UCREL NLP Group at Lancaster
University, whose work encompasses over 20 languages worldwide,
including Abjad and Ajami languages.

Note: We chose the name Abjad for simplicity, but our focus includes
Abjad and other languages that have adopted the Arabic and
Perso-Arabic scripts, as well as Ajami languages. We acknowledge that
Sorani Kurdish, when written in Arabic script, follows an alphabet
style rather than an Abjad style.

Topics of Interest:
Core Technologies: morphological analysis, disambiguation,
tokenisation, POS tagging, named entity detection, chunking, parsing,
semantic role labelling, sentiment analysis, language modelling, etc.
Applications: machine translation, speech recognition, speech
synthesis, optical character recognition, assistive technologies,
social media, etc.
Resources and Tools: dictionaries, annotated data, corpora,
orthography descriptions, font technology, glyph rendering, text input
methodologies, spell-checking, speech-to-text solutions, BLARK
descriptions, open access corpora.
Cultural and Sociolinguistic Considerations: text processing,
transliteration challenges, and solutions, cultural contexts in NLP
applications.

Submission Guidelines:
We follow the COLING 2025 standards for submission format and
guidelines. Submissions should conform to the following types:

Long papers: Up to eight (8) pages, presenting substantial, original,
completed, and unpublished work.
Short papers: Up to four (4) pages, describing a small focused
contribution, negative results, system demonstrations, etc.

Key Dates:
1st Call for Papers Announcement: 16 July 2024
2nd Call for Papers Announcement: 16 August 2024
Paper Submission Deadline: 2 December 2024
Notification of Paper Acceptance: 6 December 2024
Camera-ready Paper Deadline: 13 December 2024
Workshop Date: 19 or 20 January 2025

Organising Committee:
General Chair: Mo El-Haj, Lancaster University

Programme Chairs:
Hugh Paterson III, Collaborative Scholar
Saad Ezzini, Lancaster University
Ignatius Ezeani, Lancaster University

Review Committee:
Mahum Hayat Khan, University of La Rioja
Muhammad Sharjeel, COMSATS University Islamabad
Publication Chair: Sina Ahmadi, University of Zurich

Publicity Chairs:
Cynthia Amol, Maseno University
Amal Haddad Haddad, University of Granada
Jaleh Delfani, University of Surrey

Advisory Committee:
Ruslan Mitkov, Lancaster University
Paul Rayson, Lancaster University



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