LINGUIST List 15.556

Thu Feb 12 2004

Calls: Computational Ling/Switzerland; Socioling/Italy

Editor for this issue: Andrea Berez <andrealinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. sakas, Psycho-computational Models of Human Language Acquisition
2. calaresu, Società di Linguistica Italiana

Psycho-computational Models of Human Language Acquisition

Date: 28-Aug-2004 - 28-Aug-2004
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Contact: William Sakas
Contact Email: Psycho.Comphunter.cuny.edu 
Meeting URL: http://www.colag.cs.hunter.cuny.edu/psychocomp 

Linguistic Sub-field: Computational Linguistics ,General Linguistics
,Phonology ,Psycholinguistics ,Text/Corpus Linguistics
,Neurolinguistics ,Cognitive Science ,Language Acquisition

Call Deadline: 30-Mar-2004 

Meeting Description:

The workshop will be devoted to psychologically motivated
computational models of language acquisition -- models that are
compatible with research in psycholinguistics, developmental
psychology and linguistics -- with particular emphasis on the
acquisition of syntax. (A Workshop part of COLING-2004)
 
 Call for Papers

 COLING-2004 Workshop:

 Psycho-computational Models of Human Language Acquisition

 Geneva Switzerland 28 August 2004

 http://www.colag.cs.hunter.cuny.edu/psychocomp/


Workshop Topic 

The workshop will be devoted to psychologically motivated
computational models of language acquisition -- models that are
compatible with research in psycholinguistics, developmental
psychology and linguistics -- with particular emphasis on the
acquisition of syntax.

Invited panel: Learning Biases in Language Acquisition Models
 Walter Daelemans, Antwerp and Tilburg
 Charles D. Yang, Yale

Invited speaker
Elan Dresher, Toronto


Workshop Description and Motivation

In recent decades there has been a great deal of successful research
that applies computational learning techniques to emerging natural
language technologies, along with many meetings, conferences and
workshops in which to present such research. However, there have been
few venues in which psycho- computational models of how humans acquire
their native language(s) are the focus.

Psycho-computational models of language acquisition are of particular
interest in light of recent results in developmental psychology which
suggest that very young infants are adept at detecting statistical
patterns in an audible input stream. However, this begs the question
of whether or not a psychologically plausible statistical learning
strategy can be successfully exploited in a full- blown
psycho-computational acquisition model. Although there has been a
significant amount of presented research targeted at modeling the
acquisition of word categories and phonology, research aimed at
psychologically motivated modeling of syntax acquisition has just
begun to emerge.

The principal goal of the workshop is to bring together researchers
who work within computational linguistics, formal learning theory,
machine learning, artificial intelligence, linguistics,
psycholinguistics and other fields, and who have created or are
investigating computational models of language acquisition. In
particular, it will provide a forum for establishing links and common
themes between diverse paradigms. Although research which directly
addresses the acquisition of syntax is strongly encouraged, related
studies that inform research on the acquisition of syntax are also
welcome.

Papers are invited on, but not limited to, the following topics:

* Acquisition models that contain a parsing component
* Models that have a cross-linguistic or bilingual perspective
* Models that address the question of learning bias in terms of innate
linguistic knowledge versus statistical regularity in the input
* Models that can acquire natural language word-order
* Hybrid models that cross established paradigms
* Models that directly make use of or can be used to evaluate existing
linguistic or developmental theories in a computational framework
(e.g. the principles & parameters framework or Optimality Theory)
* Empirical models that make use of child-directed corpora
* Formal models that incorporate psychologically plausible constraints
* Comparative surveys, across multiple paradigms, that critique
previously published studies

Paper Length: Submissions should be no longer than 8 pages (A4 or the
equivalent). High-quality short papers or extended abstracts of 4 to 5
pages are encouraged. Submission and format details are below.

Lunch session: Word-order acquisition

The topic of this session will be the acquisition of different natural
language word-orders. The workshop will provide a common test-bed of
abstract sentence patterns from word order divergent languages. The
shared data contains the sentence patterns and cross-linguistic
fully-specified parses for each sentence pattern. The patterns are
available at:

 www.colag.cs.hunter.cuny.edu/grammar/data/allsentences.zip

General information and a web interface for perusing the data can be
found at:

 www.colag.cs.hunter.cuny.edu/grammar

Due to the limited amount of time available to work with novel data,
pilot studies are encouraged. The session will consist of short
presentations and roundtable discussion. Submissions for this session
are limited to 2 pages.

Those who may be interested in submitting to this session should
contact the workshop organizer before the submission deadline for
further details.

Dates of submissions

 Submission deadline: 30 March 2004
 Acceptance notification: 14 May 2004
 Camera-ready deadline: 10 June 2004
 Workshop date: 28 August 2004

Workshop Organizer
William Gregory Sakas, City University of New York
(sakashunter.cuny.edu)

Program Committee

* Robert Berwick, MIT, USA
* Antal van den Bosch, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
* Ted Briscoe, University of Cambridge, UK
* Damir Cavar, Indiana University, USA
* Morten H. Christiansen, Cornell University, USA
* Stephen Clark, University of Edinburgh, UK 
* James Cussens, University of York, UK
* Walter Daelemans, University of Antwerp, Belgium and Tilburg
University, The Netherlands
* Jeffrey Elman, University of California, San Diego, USA
* Janet Dean Fodor, City University of New York, USA
* Gerard Kempen, Leiden University, The Netherlands and The Max Planck
Institute, Nijmegen
* Vincenzo Lombardo, University of Torino, Italy
* Larry Moss, University of Indiana, USA
* Miles Osborne, University of Edinburgh, UK 
* Dan Roth, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
* Ivan Sag, Stanford University, USA
* Jeffrey Siskind, Purdue University, USA
* Mark Steedman, University of Edinburgh, UK
* Menno van Zaanen, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
* Charles Yang, Yale University, USA


Paper Submission
Length: Submissions should be no more than 8 pages (A4 or
equivalent). High- quality short papers or extended abstracts of 4 to
5 pages are encouraged. Submissions to the lunch session on
word-order should be up no more that 2 pages. (If accepted, final
camera ready versions may be up to 8 pages or 5 pages for the
word-order submissions.)

Layout: Papers must conform to COLING 2004 formatting guidelines,
available at:

 http://www.issco.unige.ch/coling2004/coling2004downloads.html

Electronic Submission: All submissions will be by email. Reviews will
be blind, so be careful not to disclose authorship or affiliation.
PDF submissions are preferred and will be required for the final
camera-ready copy.

Submissions should be sent as an attachment to:
 Psycho.Comphunter.cuny.edu. 
 The subject line must contain the single word: Submission. 

Please be sure to include accurate contact information in the body of
the email.

Contact:

Psycho.Comphunter.cuny.edu
 or sakashunter.cuny.edu

http://www.colag.cs.hunter.cuny.edu/psychocomp/

Società di Linguistica Italiana 
Short Title: SLI 

Date: 23-Sep-2004 - 25-Sep-2004
Location: Modena, Italy
Contact: Cristina Guardiano
Contact Email: guardiano.cristinaunimo.it 
Meeting URL: http://www.sli.unimo.it 

Linguistic Sub-field: Sociolinguistics 

Call Deadline: 29-Feb-2004 

Meeting Description:

XXXVIII Congresso Internazionale di Studi della Società di
Linguistica Italiana
Modena, 23-25 settembre 2004
Lingue, istituzioni, territori Riflessioni teoriche, proposte
metodologiche ed esperienze nell'ambito della Politica Linguistica

38th International Congress of the Italian Linguistics Society
Modena (Italy), 23-25 September 2004
Languages, Insitutions, Territories
Theoretical Issues, Experiences and Methodological Perspectives in
Language Policy
Sessioni:
I. Lingue, identità territoriali e politica linguistica
II. Istituzioni, scuola, mezzi di comunicazione e politica linguistica
III. Globalizzazione e politica linguistica

Sessions:
I Language Policy and Territorial Identities
II. Language Policy concerning Institutions, Education and Mass Media
II Language Policy and Globalization