LINGUIST List 2.772

Mon 11 Nov 1991

Confs: Applied NLP, Lang Understanding Systems, IATL

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Don Walker, 3rd Conference on Applied Natural Language Processing
2. Don Walker, Workshop on Fully-Implemented Natural Language Understanding Systems
3. David Gil, IATL Workshop

				ANLP-92
	 3RD CONFERENCE ON APPLIED NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING
		 Trento, Italy, 1-3 April 1992
			 sponsored by the
		Association for Computational Linguistics
	 The conference is also supported by the European
	 Coordinating Committee for Artificial Intelligence
	 (ECCAI), the Italian Association for Artificial
	 Intelligence (AI*IA), and Istituto Trentino di
	 Cultura, Trento.
PURPOSE: The focus of this conference is on the application of
natural language processing techniques to real world problems. It
will include invited and contributed papers, tutorials, an industrial
exhibition, and demonstrations. A special video session is also
being organised. The organizers want the conference to be as
international as possible, and to feature the best applied natural
language work presently available in the world. This conference
follows on from ones held in Santa Monica, California in 1983 and
in Austin, Texas in 1988.
SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM: The program will be sent out early in December
(and will include the application form and the hotel reservation
form). There were about one hundred papers submitted from four
continents. The scientific program will include original papers
solicited in all areas of applied natural language processing,
including: dialog systems; integrated speech and natural language
systems; machine translation; explanation and generation; database
interface systems; tool development; text and message processing;
grammar and style checking; corpus development; knowledge acquisition;
lexicons; language teaching aids; evaluation; adaptive systems;
multilanguage systems; multimedia systems; help systems; and other
applications. Papers will also discuss applications, evaluations,
limitations, and general tools and techniques. The program committee
is co-chaired by Oliviero Stock (IRST) and Madeleine Bates (BBN
Systems & Technologies) and also includes:
Robert Amsler (MITRE)		Kathy McKeown (Columbia U)
Giacomo Ferrari (U Pisa)	Sergei Nirenburg (Carnegie Mellon U)
Eduard Hovy (USC/ISI)		Makoto Nagao (Kyoto U)
Paul Jacobs (General Electric)	Remko Scha (U Amsterdam)
Martin Kay (Xerox PARC)		Karen Sparck Jones (U Cambridge)
Mark Liberman (U Pennsylvania)	Henry Thompson (U Edinburgh)
Paul Martin (IBM)		Wolfgang Wahlster (DFKI)
INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION: The industrial exhibition will feature
products in the usual one-booth-per-company format. For further
information contact:
	Gianpietro Carlevaro		phone: +39-461-814444
	I.R.S.T.			fax: +39-461-810851
	I-38050 Povo (Trento) ITALY email: carlevairst.it
To ensure that your requirements are met, you are advised to apply
early. Prices for stands are as follows:
	Stand type 1: 9 sqm - Lit. 1800000 + VAT 19% (approx. US$1400)
	Stand type 2: 14 sqm - Lit. 2400000 + VAT 19% (approx. US$1900)
DEMONSTRATIONS: One area of the exhibition will be equipped with
SUNs, MACs, and possibly other hardware, and will be available for
informal demonstrations of various applied NL systems. A prize
will be given for the best non-commercial demonstration. Anyone
wishing to present a demo should send a one-page description of
the demo and a specification of the system requirements by 1 December
1991 to:
	Carlo Strapparava 	phone: +39-461-814444
	I.R.S.T.			fax: +39-461-810851 38050
	I-38050 Povo (Trento) ITALY	email: strappairst.it
TUTORIALS: The meeting will be preceded by one day of tutorials on
31 March 1992 by noted contributors to the field. The program is
being currently defined and will be mailed with the general conference
program. Responsible for tutorials:
	Jon Slack			phone: +39-461-814444
	I.R.S.T.			fax: +39-461-810851 38050
	I-38050 Povo (Trento) ITALY	email: slackirst.it
FEES: The early registration fee (before February 29, 1992) for
the conference is Lit. 400.000 (approx. US$300). Early student
registration is Lit. 130.000 (approx. US$100). After 29 February
1992 the regular registration fee will be Lit. 500.000 (approx.
US$400), and student registration will be Lit. 200.000 (approx.
US$150). The application form and the hotel reservation form will
be sent out with the program early in December.
WORKSHOPS: The conference will also be preceded by two conference
special workshops, to be held on March 30th. The call for papers
for the two workshops follows. Workshops will admit only a limited
number of participants (about 30 people each) and will cost an
additional fee of Lit. 50.000 (approx. US$40). Please note that
workshop participation is restricted to those registered to the
conference. Requests for information and applications for the
workshops should be directed to the workshop organizers.
GENERAL INFORMATION: Local arrangements are being handled by:
	Tullio Grazioli and Oliviero Stock	phone: +39-461-814444
	I.R.S.T.				fax: +39-461-810851
	I-38050 Povo (Trento) ITALY		email: interneirst.it
For information on the ACL, contact:
	Donald E. Walker (ACL)		phone: +1-201-8294312
	Bellcore MRE 2A379		fax: +1-201-8295981
	445 South Street Box 1910	email: walkerflash.bellcore.com
	Morristown, NJ 07960 USA

			 ANLP-92 Workshop
			 CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
		 	Trento, Italy, 30 March 1992
	FULLY-IMPLEMENTED NATURAL LANGUAGE UNDERSTANDING SYSTEMS
			 jointly organized by
		 Kai von Luck (IBM Deutschland),
	 Claus-Rainer Rollinger (Universitaet Osnabrueck) and
		 Hans-Joachim Novak (IBM Deutschland)
A large set of theories have been proposed in recent years, covering
one or more aspects of NL understanding systems. Little effort
has been spent on integrating these theories into one system.
Experiments involving the integration of different theories, e.g.
unification-based analysis, DRT-based semantics, logic-based
reasoning, analogical reasoning, and two-level morphology, have
delivered interesting results. One of the major outcomes in this
respect is that the game of ``my component/theory is not responsible
for that task/explanation/problem'' cannot be played any more;
instead a much broader view has to be taken as the deficits of the
theories become apparent. The integration of several theories
explicates their requirements and necessitates their revision.
In this workshop we hope to bring together researchers of different
disciplines within AI natural language understanding systems, e.g.
text understanding systems, dialog systems, knowledge-based machine
translation systems, etc. to discuss the integration problems
emphasizing a holistic view of natural language understanding.
The major result of this workshop is expected to be the exchange
and discussion of known deficits of today's theories that cover
only certain aspects or phases of the NL understanding process as
well as objectively collecting the requirements for these theories.
This effort seems to be promising, as can be observed by the
existence of various experiments underway like, for instance, the
text understanding system LILOG of IBM Germany, as well as by recent
trends as different areas of AI move away from research on only
intrinsic problems of a particular theory towards a more holistic
view of NL understanding. NL systems will only have a future if
our joint efforts are directed towards formulating theories that
can be integrated to a full view of NL understanding.
Researchers of all areas of natural language understanding systems
are invited to actively participate. Contributions should not
cover a particular theory/explanation but rather RESULTS from
integrating different theories into one single system. Reports
which cover limitations of specific theories with respect to
integration and/or concrete demands for the further development
within theories are especially welcome.
Participation in the workshop will be by invitation only, based on
the extended abstracts of the applicants. For reasons of efficiency
the number of participants is limited to a maximum of 30 people.
Agreement of the participants assumed, a compilation of the workshop
and the discussions should be published in 1992 in order to make
the experiences of the participants available to a broad public.
Send 3 to 5 page extended abstracts by surface mail (e-mail copies
are encouraged as well, but a hardcopy is required) no later than
20 January 1992, to the address below:
Hans-Joachim Novak
IBM Deutschland GmbH
WT IWBS, 7000-75
Postfach 80 08 80
D-W-7000 Stuttgart 80, GERMANY
e-mail: novak%ds0lilog.bitnet
Notification of acceptance will be mailed by the end of January 1992.

THE ISRAEL ASSOCIATION FOR THEORETICAL LINGUISTICS
is pleased to announce a workshop on
LANGUAGE AND COGNITION
to take place on 30-31 December 1991,
at Haifa University, Haifa, Israel.
Program:
30 December 1991
Charles Rosenberg (Hebrew University)
 "Connectionist Network Models of Language and Cognition:
 Open Issues"
Gabriella Hermon (University of Delaware)
 "Parameter Setting and Binding Theory"
Daniel Radzinsky (Tovna Ltd., Jerusalem)
 "Constraints on Number-Name Formation: Mathematics or Linguistics?"
Mark Leikin (University of Haifa)
 "Semantic System of Locative Prepositions"
Asa Kasher, Rachel Giora, David Graves (Tel Aviv University),
Eran Zeidel (UCLA)
 "Cognitive Neuropragmatics: A New Battery for a Modularity
 Hypothesis"
Wendy Sandler (University of Haifa)
 "Sign Language and Modularity"
David Gil (University of Haifa)
 "Tonal Structure and Tonal Interpretation"
31 December 1991
Parasession on LANGUAGE AND DEAFNESS
Anne Mills (University of Amsterdam)
 "Acquisition of Sign Language as a Native Language:
 Sign Language of the Netherlands"
Esther Dromi and Dalia Ringwald-Frimerman (Tel Aviv University)
 "A Lexical Training Study in a Simultaneous Communication
 Environment"
Paul Miller (University of Haifa)
 "The Impact of Language Competence on the Processing
 of Different Codes by Deaf and Hearing Children"
Bencie Woll (University of Bristol)
 "Cross-Linguistic Communication Among Deaf People
 and Its Contribution to Understanding Universal Grammar"
Amatzia Weisel (Tel Aviv University)
 "The Relation between Verbal and Non-Verbal Social Behavior"
Wendy Sandler (University of Haifa)
 "Toward a Representation of Phonologically Significant
 Elements in American Sign Language"
Anat Stavans (Bar Ilan University) and Michal Frid (Tel Aviv University)
 "Linear and Simultaneous Organization: The Case of the
 Plural in Israeli Sign Language"
 ********************************
Preliminary Announcement:
The Israel Association for Theoretical Linguistics
Annual Conference will take place on 9-10 June 1992
(and not as previously announced),
at Bar Ilan University, near Tel Aviv.
Abstracts are due by 20 March.
A call for abstracts will be issued next month.
 ********************************
For further information about the workshop or conference, contact
David Gil
Secretary/Treasurer, IATL
Department of English
Haifa University
Haifa, 31999, Israel
rhle813haifauvm.bitnet