hody@dalcs.UUCP (Reg Hody) (03/26/85)
Theoretical Approaches to
Natural Language Understanding
A Workshop sponsored by
the Canadian Society for Computational Studies of Intelligence/
Societe canadienne pour l'etude de l'intelligence par ordinateur
in conjunction with
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4H8
and
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A lS6
to be held
28-30 May 1985 Halifax, Nova Scotia
ABSTRACT
Theoretical Approaches to Natural Language Understanding is intended to bring
together active researchers in Computational Linguistics, Artificial Intelli-
gence, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science to discuss/hear invited
talks, papers, and positions relating to some of the ``hot'' issues regarding
the current state of natural language understanding. Three topics will form
the focus for discussion; these topics include aspects of grammars, aspects of
semantics/pragmatics, and knowledge representation. Each of these topics will
consider current methodologies: for grammars - theoretical developments,
especially generalized phrase structure grammars and logic-based meta-grammars;
for semantics - situation semantics and Montague semantics; for knowledge
representation - logical systems (temporal logics, etc.) and special purpose
inference systems.
1. INTRODUCTION
There has been an increasing interest in Natural Language processing over
the past few years, due in part to the tremendous resurgence of interest in
artificial intelligence research, particularly natural language understanding
research, and the importance of natural language understanding for Fifth
Generation computing projects. It has been some number of years since the
Theoretical Issues in Natural Processing (TINLAP) workshops have been held.
The Canadian Society for Computational Studies of Intelligence/Societe
canadienne pour l'etude de l'intelligence par ordinateur (CSCSI/SCEIO) decided
that it was time to do something about this state of affairs.
The following people are responsible for the Theoretical Approaches to
Natural Language Understanding Workshop slated for Dalhousie University,
Halifax, Nova Scotia 28-30 May, 1985.
General Chairperson: Richard Rosenberg, Dalhousie University
Program Chairperson: Nick Cercone, Simon Fraser University
Local Arrangements: Jan Mulder, Dalhousie University
Program/Organizing Committee:
Len Schubert, University of Alberta
Veronica Dahl, Simon Fraser University
David Israel, BBN Labs & SRI International
Graeme Hirst, University of Toronto
Ralph Weischedel, BBN Laboratories
James Allen, University of Rochester
Invited Speakers/Panelists:
Harvey Abramson, University of British Columbia
Robin Cooper, University of Wisconsin
Pat Hayes, University of Rochester
Don Hindle, Bell Labs
Lynette Hirshman, System Development Corporation
Ron Kaplan, Xerox PARC
Mitch Marcus, Bell Labs
Bill Mark, Savoir
Eric Mays, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Fernando Pereira, SRI International
Stan Peters, Center for the Study of Language and Intelligence
Stan Rosenschein, SRI International
Paul Sabatier, Rue des mariniers, Paris
Patrick Saint Dizier, IRISA - Campus universitaire de beaulieu
Candy Sidner, Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc.
Norm Sondheimer, USC - ISI
David Scott Warren, SUNY Stony Brook
David Touretzky, Carnegie-Mellon University
William Woods, Applied Expert Systems
CSCSI/SCEIO Officers (1984/6):
President: Gordon McCalla, University of Saskatchewan
Vice-President: John Tsotsos, University of Toronto
Secretary: Michael Bauer, University of Western Ontario
Treasurer: Wayne Davis, University of Alberta
2. SCHEDULE
The following preliminary schedule was prepared by the members of the
Program Organizing committee.
Grammar Day - Tuesday 28 May 1985 Len Schubert (Organizer)
9:00 ``Neutral'' overview
Len Schubert
9:10 Two invited presentations/discussions of 40 min. each
Ron Kaplan, Dan Flickinger
10:30 Coffee Break
10:50 Invited presentation/discussion
Mitch Marcus and Don Hindle
11:30 Two presentations/discussions of 25 min. each
Grammar Day - Tuesday 28 May 1085 Veronica Dahl (Organizer)
2:00 Neutral Overview
Veronica Dahl
2:10 Three 30-minute presentations
Patrick Saint-Dizier, Fernando Pereira, Paul Sabatier
3:40 Coffee
4:10 A paper to be chosen from those submitted
4:30 Panel Discussion
Harvey Abramson, Veronica Dahl, Lynette Hirschman, Paul Sabatier
5:30 Finish
Semantics Day - Wednesday 29 May 1985 G. Hirst & D. Israel (Organizers)
9:00 Neutral, historical overview of, and introduction to, semantic
theories, especially as applied to Natural Language Understanding
(Israel and Hirst - alternating sentences)
9:40 Why I like Montague semantics, and what they have for Natural
Language Understanding
Speaker A
10:50 Coffee
11:20 Why I like Situation semantics, and what they have for Natural
Language Understanding
Stan Peters
12:30 Luncheon
with submitted paper
2:00 Three 25-minute responses to the preceding
3:15 Another response
David Scott Warren
3:30 Coffee
4:00 A paper to be chosen from those submitted.
4:25 Discussion time, starting with re-responses from speakers
Joyce Friedman and Stan Peters (say 10 minutes each)
5:30 Finish
without sbmitted paper
2:00 Three half-hour responses to the preceding
William Woods, Norm Sondheimer, Robin Cooper
3:30 Coffee
4:00 Another response
David Scott Warren
4:20 Discussion time, starting with re-responses from speakers
Joyce Friedman and Stan Peters) say 10 minutes each)
5:30 Finish
Knowledge Representation Day - Thursday 30 May 1985 R. Weischedel &
J. Allen (Organisers)
9:00 Introduction
(Allen and Weischedel)
9:30 Invited Speaker
Pat Hayes
10:20 Coffee
10:45 Invited Speakers
Stan Rosenchein, Eric Mays
12:25 Luncheon
2:00 Invited Speaker
Bill Mark, Candy Sidner
3:40 Coffee
4:00 Invited Speaker
Dave Touretzky
4:50 Contributed paper or Panel
5:30 Finish
Write to Richard Rosenberg
Director, Computing Science
Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computing Science
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4H8
or call (902) 424-2572, 2573 , for registration information.
Send electronic mail to rsr%dalcs@dartmouth or ...utcsri!dalcs!rsr.
--
reg
Reg Hody, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. B3H 4H8 (902-424-6501)
hody%dalcs@dartmouth or {allegra,decvax,ihnp4}!utcsri!dalcs!hody