linguistlist.org>
Editor for this issue: Renee Galvis <reneelinguistlist.org>
nias.knaw.nl>CALL FOR PAPERS Conference on Comparative Diachronic Syntax University of Leiden Centre for Linguistics (ULCL), 29-30 August 2003 Description of Conference Topic In the synchronic study of syntax, the comparative approach has been highly successful in uncovering insights into the nature of syntactic principles and the variation that they allow. In fact, it may not be an overstatement to say that modern syntax is to a large extent based on comparative work. It is certainly true that any analysis of language-specific data will not be considered successful if it cannot be made responsive to data from other languages. In the diachronic study of syntax, the role of cross-linguistic comparative concerns is somewhat less clear. While diachronic investigation focusing on typology and grammaticalisation has produced an important body of comparative work, it is sometimes rough-grained and often neglects issues of syntactic structure. Diachronic study from other perspectives, while it may be more fine-grained and structure-conscious, tends to ignore questions of cross-linguistic comparison. It therefore appears that there is still a need to explore the implications of a principled comparative stance to historical syntactic change. This conference hopes to stimulate discussion of the possibilities and problems that such a stance would create, with reference to specific case histories or more general issues in the study of syntactic change. Among the questions that could be addressed are the following: � what can a comparative perspective contribute to our understanding of some specific syntactic change or set of changes in a language? � what is the exact contribution that models of comparative synchronic syntax can make to the study of diachrony? � are there types of diachronic syntactic phenomena that may be particularly well or ill suited to comparative analysis? � does comparative diachronic analyis place special demands on the kinds of data that are required? Call for papers Key-note speaker at the conference will be Professor Ian Roberts (University of Cambridge; confirmed). There are ten to twelve slots for further papers on the conference topic. Abstracts are invited for 40-minute papers (followed by 15 minutes discussion). The abstract should have a maximum length of two pages, including any references, and should reach the address below before 1 December 2002, preferably in the form of an e-mail message or attachment. Notification of acceptance will be sent by e-mail by 1 February 2003. Contact address Conference on Comparative Diachronic Syntax Dr. Wim van der Wurff Department of English P.O. Box 9515 NL-2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands e-mail: w.a.van.der.wurffMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue
let.uu.nl>EACL-03: 2nd Call for Workshop Proposals Proposal submission deadline: October 1, 2002 The EACL-03 Organizing Committee invites proposals for workshops to be held at EACL-03. EACL-03 will take place in Budapest, Hungary, April 12-17, 2003 with workshops being held on Sunday and Monday, April 13 and 14, 2003. * Workshop topics EACL-03 workshops provide organizers and participants with an opportunity to focus intensively on a specific topic within computational linguistics. Often, workshops concentrate on specific topics of technical interest (e.g., parsing technologies), particular areas of application for language processing technologies (e.g., NLP applied to IR), or community-wide issues that deserve attention (e.g., standardization of resources and tools). We welcome proposals on any topic that is of interest to the EACL community, but we particularly encourage proposals that broaden the scope of our community through the consideration of new or interdisciplinary techniques or applications. We also encourage topics that are specific to the EACL community such as resources and tools for European or Mediterranean languages. * Workshop format Traditionally, workshops are shaped as mini-conferences, but we encourage proposers to consider other formats that exploit the fact that smaller settings allow for more interaction between participants (discussions, panels, working sessions). The default duration of a workshop is one day, but longer or shorter durations can be proposed (but should be justified). Please note that capacity limitations may cause us to request the organizers to shorten a workshop or to merge it with another workshop in a related area. * Financial guidelines The workshop organisers will benefit from the standard logistic facilities provided for the conference e.g., room, equipment, coffee, proceedings. Any additional cost should be covered by the organisers (especially invited speakers, PC meetings etc.). * Registration fees Participants pay a registration fee which is dependent on the duration of the workshop. Participants not registered for the main conference, pay a higher fee. * Proposals Workshop proposals should provide sufficient information to evaluate the quality and importance of the topic, and the size of the interested community. Proposals should be 2-4 pages and contain the following information: * A title and brief description of the workshop topic. * The target audience and projected number of participants along with support for the projected count. Supporting evidence could include a list of potential submitters, a list of conferences that contained papers on the proposed topic, the number of new companies focused on this topic, or recent funding initiatives that address this topic. * Resource needs such as room size and number of days. Include any special requirements for technical support (computer infrastructure, etc.). * The name, postal address, phone number, e-mail address, and webpage of each chair. In addition, indicate the chairs' background in the workshop area. * A preliminary programme committee Proposals should be submitted by electronic mail, in plain ASCII text, as soon as possible but no later than OCTOBER 1, 2002. The subject line should be: "EACL-03 WORKSHOP PROPOSAL". Please e-mail proposals and any inquiries to the Workshop Chair, Steven Krauwer (steven.krauwerMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue