LINGUIST List 7.1628

Mon Nov 18 1996

Calls: NLPRS'97 & SNLP'97, Mediterranean Meeting of Morphology

Editor for this issue: Susan Robinson <robinsonemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. Virach MMT, NLPRS'97 & SNLP'97 Call for Participation
2. Jeroen van de Weijer, Call: First Mediterranean Meeting of Morphology

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Natural Language Processing Pacific Rim Symposium 1997 (NLPRS'97)
(Incorporating SNLP'97)
Phuket, Thailand
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December 2-4, 1997

OBJECTIVE

	Natural Language Processing Pacific Rim Symposium (NLPRS), first 
held in Singapore in November 1991 and subsequently in Fukuoka Japan, 
December 1993; and in Seoul Korea, December 1995, aims to be the premier 
Natural Language Processing (NLP) conference in the Pacific Rim region. 
Its purpose is to promote high-quality research in NLP and to provide an 
international forum for researchers and practioners to exchange ideas and 
experiences on the development and applications of NLP systems. NLPRS'97
will incorporate Symposium on Natural Language Processing 1997 (SNLP'97),
an biannual international conference hosted by Thai universities.
	Full papers, research-in-progress papers, and proposals for panels
or other activities pertaining to the conference are invited. Suggested 
topics include, but are not limited to:

		Corpus	
		Dialogue 
		Disambiguation & Resolution
		Generation
		Information Retrieval
		Interface & Multimedia
		Lexicon
		Local Language Processing and Applications
		Machine Translation
		Multilingual Information Processing
		NLP Product Development
		Parsing
		Semantics
		Speech Processing
		Understanding

LOCATION

	NLPRS'97 and SNLP'97 will be held at Phuket Island, Thailand.
Phuket Island is a well-known resort in the southern part of Thailand. 
It has an international airport and a number of direct flights from 
various parts of the world.

MAIN CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

General Chair:	
	Pairash Thajchayapong
	King Mongkut Institute of Technology, Lardkrabang 
	and National Electronics and Computer Technology Center

Organizing Committee:
Chair	
	Vilas Wuwongse
	Asian Institute of Technology
Vice-chair
	Surapan Meknavin
	National Electronics and Computer Technology Center

Program Committee:	
Chair
	Jun-ichi Tsujii
	UMIST and University of Tokyo 
Vice-chair
	Asanee Kawtrakul
	Kasetsart University

Local Arrangements:
	National Electronics and Computer Technology Center
			
WWW Facilities:
	National Electronics and Computer Technology Center

IMPORTANT DATES

Submission:
	May 1, 1997
Notification of Acceptance:
	July 1, 1997
Camera-Ready Copy:
	September 1, 1997

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

	Papers should be original, unpublished, not more than 25 double-
spaced pages including a separate title page with each author's name, 
title, affiliation, complete mailing address, email address, and 
telephone and fax numbers.
	Panel and other proposals should include the names and affiliations
of the individuals who have agreed to participate and a 1-2 page summary 
of the topic, including a description of how the session will be structured.
These may be submitted early for feedback and assistance from the program
committee.
	Research in progress submissions should be no longer than 2000
words in length.
	All full papers received by the submission deadline will be 
refereed by at least two reviewers. All papers presented at NLPRS'97
and SNLP'97 will be included in the Conference Proceedings.
	Four hard-copies of all submissions should be sent to

Linguistics and Knowledge Science Laboratory
National Electronics and Computer Technology Center
National Science and Technology Development Agency
73/1 Rama VI Rd., Rajtawe, Bangkok 10400.,
Thailand
(NLPRS'97)
 

NLPRS'97 SUPPORTERS:
	
* Asian Institute of Technology
* Kasetsart University
* National Electronics and Computer Technology Center
* Shinnawatra (pending)
* SIG-KLC of Korean Information Science Society (pending)
* IG-NLP of Information Processing Society of Japan (pending)
* Telecom Asian (pending)

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FURTHER INFORMATION:

	LINKSNWG.NECTEC.OR.TH
*************************************************************************

First Mediterranean Meeting of Morphology

Date: September 19-20, 1997
Location: Mytilene, island of Lesvos, Greece

Organized under the auspices of the Community of Mytilene

Organizing Institutions: University of Athens in collaboration
with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the University of Ferrara.

Scientific Committee:
Geert Booij, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Angela Ralli, University of Athens
Sergio Scalise, University of Athens

Local Organizing Committee: Angela Ralli, Zinetta Katramadou,
Vassiliki Kourvaniou, Maria Raftopoulou

The Mytilene Conference will focus on three topics:
a) Allomorphy (Coordinator: Geert Booij - booijlet.vu.nl)
b) Compounding (Coordinator: Sergio Scalise - g7mdns.unife.it)
c) Inflection: (Coordinator: Angela Ralli - aralli atlas.uoa.gr)

a) Allomorphy. In this section papers are expected to address
questions such as:
-how can we decide whether allomorphy must be accounted for by
phonology or morphology?
-which properties play a role in the selection of allomorphs
(segmental properties, prosodic properties, morphological properties
of the stem or the affix)?
-are there locality restrictions on the selection of allomorphs?
-can allomorph selection always be described in syntagmatic terms, or
do paradigmatic relations also play a role?

b) Compounding. This session will address the problem of the
delimitation of compounds. Defining units as compounds may be very
problematic since it is where the syntax of words and the syntax of
phrases seem to converge. For example, linguistic analyses differ
with respect to cases such as the Italian "ferro da stiro" (flat
iron) and the French "machine a laver" (washing-machine) which
sometimes are treated as morphological formations and some other
times as syntactic ones. The same observation can be made for the so
called 'phrasal compounds': are they constructed by morphological or
by syntactic rules? And which are the criteria for distinguish
between morphological units and syntactic units? Moreover, there are
also borderline cases between derivation and compounding, in
particular as far as formations containing semi-words, such as geo-,
meta-, -phile, etc. are concerned. But sometime it is also
problematic to distinguish between prefixed words and compounded
words (cf. Italian words such as 'sottoscala / sottocommissione').
Thus, in this second session of the meeting we invite papers
proposing analyses which help delimiting the confines of compoundhood
within morphology on the one hand, and with respect to syntax on the
other.

c) Inflection. In morphology, inflection is generally considered to
be the process which forms words out of stems. However, it is also
the process which has a significance beyond the limits of words, in
the sense that it is syntactically relevant.

 With respect to inflection, the main purpose of the Mytilene
Meeting is to address the following three issues:

a) What is the nature of inflection and inflectional categories in
general? b) Is there a distinction between inherent and contextual
inflection? c) Where inflected words are generated within the
grammar?

These issues are also connected with the question of featurized
information and feature percolation/movement, which is actually in
the centre of linguistic research independently of any specific
theoretical framework.

In stressing these points, we search for analyses and proposals which
can capture the morphological aspect of inflection without neglecting
the issue of how syntactic properties should be accounted for.

The papers can deal with any language.

Abstract submission:

Abstracts should consist of four anonymous copies accompanied by a
camera-ready original with author's name, affiliation and address
(please, add e-mail address and fax if you have one). They should be
no more than two pages long, including bibliography, and submitted
to the address below (Angela Ralli), postmarked no later than
November 30, 1996 (extended deadline!).

Candidates will be notified on the acceptance or the rejection of
their paper by the end of February 1997.

Olympic Airways is offering a considerable discount of 30 per cent.
Details will be issued later on.

Hotel Prices next September will range in between 8.000 drachmas
per night and 14.000 drachmas at most. Hotel names, addresses and
phone/fax numbers will also be announced later on.

We are looking for 5 speakers per session.
Selected speakers will receive free lodging for at most 4 nights.

Information on the Meeting venue:

The Meeting will be held in one of the conference rooms of the New
Archaeological Museum in Mytilene, situated in the center of the
city, with a magnificent view of the sea and the green hills.


Brief information on the island of Lesvos:

Lesvos is the third biggest island in Greece, its surface covers
2.150 km2, and is easily accessed by boat or by plane, either via
Athens or directly from most European cities. It belongs to the
"green Greek islands, two thirds are covered by olive trees, pines and
vineyards, and has more than 100 towns and villages connected between
them by good paved roads. The town of Mytilene, situated at the
eastern coast, is the island's capital with approximately 25.000
people and all necessary facilities (international port and airport,
hospital, schools, hotels, etc.). It is also the site of the Ministry
of Aegean and the Aegean University. Lesvos was always known not
only for its beautiful nature, but also for her long history. In
ancient times, the island became famous for her poets, philosophers
and musicians. Today, archaeological excavations mark the contiguity
of life during thousands of years in Lesvos. Visitors can admire
petrified forests, prehistoric sites, roman aqueducts, Byzantine
churches, venetian castles, and also beautiful narrow stone streets
with their stone houses dated from the nineteenth century.

Information on hotel accommodation and addresses where tourist
information may be obtained will be issued with the second call.

Specific questions regarding abstract submission and organization
matters should be addressed either by fax or by e-mail to:

Angela Ralli
Dept. of French School of Philosophy
University of Athens

Mail address: Panepistimiopoli Ilissia
 15784 Athens Greece
Fax. 1-7248979
e-mail: aralliatlas.uoa.gr