LINGUIST List 6.492

Mon 03 Apr 1995

Confs: Forensic linguistics, Mathematical modelling

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1. Helen Fraser, Confs: International Assoc of Forensic Linguistics
2. Don Ringe, workshop at Penn

EARLYBIRD REGISTRATION FOR the second conference of the International
Association of Forensic Linguists is due 12 April. The conference is to be
held 9-12 July at the University of New England, in Armidale, Australia.

If you have misplaced your registration form, or do not have one, or if you
have any enquiries re registration, contact Phil Johnston at New England
Conference Management FAX: 61 67 71 1713 PHONE 61 67 73 3370.

The conference program is looking very promising with a good range of
forensic linguistic topics beong covered by speakers from a number of
countries. There is already considerable interest in the conference from
linguists, lawyers and the media in Australia.

***Topics to be covered in conference sessions include:

*analysis of discourse markers in disputed texts,
*the examination of alleged verbals of people of non-English speaking
background,
*problems in preparing an accurate transcript of Aboriginal land claim
hearings,
*forensic foreign language transcription,
*acoustic parameters in forensic phonetics,
*effects of telephone transmission lines on forensic speaker
identification, *vilification and hate speech,
*cultural and religious issues affecting the Amish in American courts,
*readers' understandings of temporary restraining orders enforced in
domestic violence cases,
*evidence of miscommunication between police and second language speakers
during police interrogation,
*the questioning of expert witnesses,
*an experimental study of the viability of voice lineups,
*reactions of the law to forensic linguistics

___________________
hfrasermetz.une.edu.au (129.180.4.1)

Helen Fraser (Dr)
Dept of Linguistics
University of New England
Armidale
NSW 2351
AUSTRALIA

Phone 067 73 2128/3189
Fax 067 73 3735

Tandy Warnow (Computer and Information Science, U. of Pennsylvania) and
 Don Ringe (Linguistics, U. of Pennsylvania) are organizing a

 WORKSHOP: MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF LINGUISTIC RELATIONSHIPS

 Institute for Research in Cognitive Science
 3401 Walnut St., West Entrance, 4th Floor
 University of Pennsylvania
 Philadelphia, PA
 April 17-18, 1995

Tentative schedule (including time for discussion after each presentation):

MONDAY, APRIL 17
 8:30 - 9:00 Coffee
 9:00 - 9:30 Introductory remarks
 9:30 - 12:00 "A character-based method for inferring evolutionary
 trees." Three interrelated presentations:
 "Historical and methodological overview of the problem,"
 Don Ringe, U. of Pennsylvania
 "Computational aspects," Tandy Warnow, U. of Pennsylvania
 "Indo-European," Ann Taylor, U. of Pennsylvania
 12:00 - 1:30 Lunch
 1:30 - 3:00 "Shaped by some common contingency: historically but
 not genetically related," Johanna Nichols, U. of California
 at Berkeley
 3:00 - 3:30 Coffee
 3:30 - 5:00 "Mathematical methods in dialectology," Sheila Embleton,
 York U.

TUESDAY, APRIL 18
 8:30 - 9:00 Coffee
 9:00 - 10:30 "Modelling the time course of language change,"
 Anthony Kroch, U. of Pennsylvania
 10:30 - 12:00 presentation by William Labov, U. of Pennsylvania
 (title to be announced)
 12:00 - 1:30 Lunch
 1:30 - 3:00 "The mathematics of n-way comparison," Bill Poser, U. of
 Northern British Columbia
 3:00 - 5:00 General discussion

All sessions will be held in the large conference room at IRCS, at the address
given in the heading of this announcement.

The public is invited to attend.

ACCOMMODATIONS
Among regular hotels we especially recommend the Sheraton University City at
36th Street and Chestnut (about a block and a half from IRCS), phone
215-387-8000.
Dormitory-style accommodations are available at International House, 3701
Chestnut Street, phone 215-387-5125 (ext. 2220), fax 215-895-6535.
Bed and breakfast accommodations can be found through Bed and Breakfast
Connections of Philadelphia, phone 610-687-3565.
Those for whom economy is imperative might consider the Divine Tracy Hotel, run
by a local religious group at 20 South 36th Street (a stone's throw--literally
--from the Sheraton), phone 215-382-4310. This is amazingly inexpensive, but
there is an early curfew (I think 10 p.m.) and an amazingly conservative dress
code, especially for women (skirt and hose mandatory). Still, students assure
us that it is safe, clean, convenient, and cheap.