Bourses: PhD Tilburg University

Tue Oct 2 10:56:04 UTC 2001

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      "Computing Meaning in interaction", Ph.D. Project
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The Computational Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence Group at
Tilburg University, Faculty of Arts, invites applications for a
4-year Ph.D. position.

(Vacancy 810.01.13)

Project description
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When we compute the meaning of a linguistic object, like a text
fragment or a dialogue utterance, we combine information from two
sources: on the one hand the semantic information that can be found in

the linguistic object, such as word meanings, syntactic composition,
and prosodic or typographical information; and on the other hand
information from outside the linguistic object, such as the preceding
text or dialogue, the beliefs and goals of speaker and hearer, and the

speaker's gestures and mimics. The latter type of information forms
the `context' of the linguistic object. Meaning computation processes
thus combine linguistic, paralinguistic and context information.

Traditionally, the computation of phrase and sentence meanings from
constituent word meanings and syntactic composition is the area of
formal semantics, while pragmatics is concerned with contextual and
paralinguistic aspects of meaning. Formal semantics has been concerned

more with formal then with computational issues, and pragmatics has
been struggling to attain a sufficient degree of formalization for
computational modelling. Both of these branches of linguistics have
been too busy with their own problems to devote much attention to the
integration which is needed to computate meanings of linguistic
objects in context.

Two closely related new branches of interdisciplinary research,
`computational semantics' and `computational pragmatics', are both
concerned with the computation of meaning, with an emphasis on
semantic and pragmatic aspects, respectively. Their explicit focus on
computation has the effect that each of them is very much interested
in what happens in the other, and that there is in practice a
considerable area of overlap. Computational semanticists are for
example interested in constructing underspecified semantic
representations which are intended to become fully specified by
reasoning with context information. The open Ph.D. position is
situated in this area of overlap, with the possibility of going more
in one direction or the other.

The Ph.D. project will concentrate on the computation of meanings of
dialogue utterances, which means that both semantic and pragmatic
meaning aspects are taken into consideration, and their integration.
The theoretical starting point of the project is that meanings of
dialogue utterances are viewed in a `pragmasemantic' dynamic way in
terms of intended context-changing effects. Based on corpus data
from dialogue research, the project aims at developing an
implementation
of a sufficiently rich (but also sufficiently constrained) notion of
dialogue context to allow the application of current approaches to
context modelling and reasoning with context in meaning computation
processes.

The Ph.D. project will build on earlier work done in the `DenK'
multimodal dialogue project and on work in computational semantics,
pragmatics, and reasoning by various members of the Computational
Linguistics & AI Group, and relates closely to several other ongoing
PhD projects (e.g. on context-driven dialogue management in spoken
interaction, on language generation in a dialogue system, and on
machine learning for dialogue strategies).

Environment
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The Computational Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence Group in the

Faculty of Arts is an active, internationally composed,
interdisciplinary research group that specialises in modelling aspects

of natural language understanding, machine learning of natural
language, and multimodal dialogue. The research programme of the CL &
AI Group, "LANGUAGE, KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION" (in Dutch:
`Informatie, Taal en Kennis', or `ITK' for short), investigates the
computational aspects of the acquisition, representation, processing
and communication of knowledge and information expressed in natural
language.

The ITK programme is based on the view that language, knowledge, and
information processing are most fruitfully studied in an integrated
fashion. Many linguistic phenomena can be understood only by
considering the contextual background knowledge and the dynamic
information states of agents that produce and process language, while
many aspects of the knowledge acquisition, representation, and
processing by intelligent agents are determined by language-based
communication. The integrated approach takes shape in a number of
projects which fall in one or more of the following four areas:

* Dialogue theory and human-computer communication
* Induction of linguistic knowledge
* Computational semantics and pragmatics
* Reasoning with knowledge and belief.

In the latest national quality assessment of linguistic research in
the Netherlands the ITK programme was judged "excellent".

Tilburg University is a specialized institute of learning with
emphasis on social sciences and the humanities. Most of the university

is situated in one location, on the perimeter of Tilburg, where it
borders a beautiful, freely accessible forested area. It is easily
accessible by rail. It employs about 1600 people and has a student
body of around 10.000. There are 19 colleges and 10 research
institutes which provide graduate and postgraduate tuition and
research of outstanding quality, Tilburg University offers a whole
range of modern facilities and services that support the daily life of

employees and students. In 2000, Tilburg University was voted "the
best university in the Netherlands".

Requirements
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Applicants should have a good honours degree (or equivalent) in
computational linguistics, cognitive science, or computer science,
preferably with a background in semantics and/or pragmatics, and with
an interest in human-computer interaction.

Enquiries and applications
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For more information contact Harry Bunt at bunt at kub.nl, or telephone
+31-13 466 3060.

Applications should preferably be sent both by email to bunt at kub.nl
and by ordinary mail to:

Mr P.M. van Balen
Personnel officer, Faculty of Arts
Tilburg University
P.O. Box 90153
NL-5000 LE Tilburg
The Netherlands

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 Harry C. Bunt
 Professor of Linguistics and Computer Science
 Tilburg University
 P.O. Box 90153
 5000 LE Tilburg, the Netherlands
 Phone: +31 - 13 466.3060 (secretary Anne Andriaensen)
                     2568 (Dean's office)
                     2653 (office, room B 310)
 Fax: +31 - 13 466.3110
 Harry.Bunt at kub.nl
 WWW: http://cwis.kub.nl/~fdl/general/people/bunt/index.stm
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