LINGUIST List 30.2597
Mon Jul 01 2019
Support: English; French; Computational Linguistics: PhD, CNRS
Editor for this issue: Becca Morris <beccalinguistlist.org>
Date: 27-Jun-2019
From: Nabil Hathout <Nabil.Hathout
univ-tlse2.fr>
Subject: English; French; Computational
Linguistics: PhD, CNRS, France
E-mail this message to a friend Department: CLLE
Web
Address:
https://clle.univ-tlse2.fr/ Level: PhD
Institution/Organization: CNRS
Duties: Research
Specialty Areas:
Computational Linguistics
Required Language(s):
English (eng)
French (fra) Description:
PhD
position: Acquisition of linguistic phenomena by means of neural embeddings
GENERAL INFORMATION
Reference
: UMR5263-ANNCAM-012
Workplace : TOULOUSE
Date of publication : Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Scientific
Responsible name : Nabil HATHOUT and Tim VAN DE CRUYS
Type of Contract : PhD Student contract /
Thesis offer
Contract Period : 36 months
Start date of the thesis : 1 October 2019
Proportion
of work : Full time
Remuneration : 2 135,00 € gross monthly
Description of the Thesis
Topic:
Neural embeddings, used to construct semantic representations for words as well as sentences,
have become ubiquitous in the field of natural language processing. Although their use leads to very
good performance in a wide range of tasks, they present difficulties related to their opacity. In
particular, much uncertainty remains about their ability to capture linguistic knowledge. The goal of
this PhD studentship will be to investigate the ability of neural embeddings to acquire specific
linguistic phenomena.
The first of these phenomena concerns the selection preferences of verbal
predicates. Most verbs have a preference for arguments that belong to particular semantic classes.
Theoretically, sentence embeddings implicitly model these preferences, as well as the semantic features
of the predicate and its arguments. On the other hand, it remains unclear whether they are able to
correctly model more irregular cases, where the verb selects for a semantically atypical argument. The
thesis will include a thorough study of the interaction of the verb with its arguments during the
construction of sentence embeddings: how does the representation of the verb contextualize itself in the
presence of its arguments, and vice versa?
Related to the first phenomenon, we will study the
extent to which phrase embeddings are able to capture subcategorization frames. In a given context, a
verb selects a subcategorization framework that depends on its syntactic and semantic properties, as
well as those of the context. Again, sentence embeddings theoretically capture this information, but are
they also able to identify irregular arguments? The study will examine the behavior of sentence
embeddings in contexts where the arguments either do or do not conform to the verb subcategorization
frame.
Work Context:
The candidate will jointly carry out their research at the CLLE
laboratory (CARTEL team) and the IRIT laboratory (Melodi team) at the University of Toulouse. CLLE
develops NLP methods and tools for linguistics, while IRIT is a computer laboratory internationally
recognized for its research on artificial intelligence and natural language processing; IRIT is also one
of the founding laboratories of ANITI (3IA), the artificial intelligence institute of Toulouse.
Funding:
The thesis will be funded for a period of 3 years. The monthly remuneration is 2135
euros gross (1715 euros net).
Profile:
- Master's degree in NLP or computer science;
-
Strong knowledge of NLP and machine learning;
- Strong programming skills (Python);
- Good
command of English and French;
- Good writing and oral presentation skills.
Application:
Applications must be filed on the application link provided below.
Inquiries:
Feel free
to contact Nabil Hathout (nabil.hathout
univ-tlse2.fr) or Tim Van de Cruys
(tim.vandecruys
irit.fr) to have more information.
Additional
Information:
Keywords: neural embeddings; compositionality; contextual models; subcategorization
frames.
The PHD will be co-directed by Nabil Hathout (CNRS, CLLE) and Tim Van de Cruys (CNRS,
IRIT).
Applications Deadline: Open until filled
Mailing Address for Applications:
Attn:
Nabil Hathout
CLLE/ERSS. Maison de la recherche
Université
de Toulouse Jean-Jaurès
Toulouse 31058
France
Web Address for Applications:
https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/Doctorant/UMR5263-ANNCAM-012/Default.aspx?lang=EN
Contact Information:
Nabil Hathout
Nabil.Hathout
univ-tlse2.fr
Page Updated: 01-Jul-2019