horck@itksu2 (06/27/89)
-------------------------------------- ADVANCE NOTICE AND CALL FOR PAPERS -------------------------------------- The Institute for Language Technology and Artificial Intelligence ITK, recently founded at Tilburg University, The Netherlands, will be fostering a SYMPOSIUM ON DISCONTINUOUS CONSTITUENCY ------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- DATE: January 25-27, 1990. PLACE: Tilburg University, The Netherlands. GUESTSPEAKERS: David Dowty, Ohio State University; Richard Kayne, CUNY; James McCawley, University of Chicago; Carl Pollard, Carnegie-Mellon University; Jan Koster, Groningen University. ITK: The Institute for Language Technology and Artificial Intelligence ITK was founded in spring 1988 at Tilburg University to further research and development of integrated theories of language, knowledge and computation. ITK brings together the research programme on natural language processing and artificial intelligence at the department of Language and Computer Science in the Faculty of Arts, and the research programme on data base technology, artificial intelligence and expert systems at the department of Computer Science in the Faculty of Economics, both at Tilburg University. ITK is also the centre of activity in the national university-industry research programme 'Human-computer communication using natural lanuguage'. In addition, ITK initiates new research in language processing, data base technology and artificial intelligence. ITK was founded through grants from the Dutch government and Tilburg University and receives support from several computer firms. HUMAN-COMPUTER COMMUNICATION: The possibility to use natural language in human interfaces to computer systems constitutes a target of ITK research. This target is a source of challenging research questions of a fundamental nature and holds the promise of a wide variety of exciting applications. It forms the theme of the reserach programme 'Human-computer communication using natural language'. in which several universities and industries cooperate with financial support from the Dutch government through teh SPIN agency. The programme has been designed and will be carried out by ITK together with the section Language Technology in the department of Psychology at the University of Nijmegen the Language and Speech Technology group in the R&D department of Oce-Nederland, and the Institute for Perception Research IPO (a joint institute of Philips Research and Eindhoven Technical University). The programme is coordinated at ITK. THE SYMPOSIUM: Discontinuous constituency, a phenomenon found in many languages, presents problems for its description in formal grammars. Manifold are the syntactic solutions to the problem that have been suggested. These vary from transformations to metarules, and from crossing branches to representations in c- and f-structures. Of course there are also semantic problems involved; there is for instance the problem that discontinuous constituency raises for the principle of compositionality. In the symposium three questions will occupy a central position: - How can discontinuous constituency be accounted for in syntactic terms; - Given a syntactic analysis, how can a semantic analysis be formulated; - What are the computational implications of the answers formulated to the first two questions. INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS: Three copies of extended abstracts (4 to 5 pages, double-spaced) should be submitted before SEPTEMBER 15, 1989 to: Wietske Sijtsma and/or Arthur van Horck Tilburg University, ITK P.O. Box 90153 5000 LE Tilburg The Netherlands. All papers, both written and oral versions, should be in English. The Conference Proceedings will be distributed to the conference participants. REFEREES: Riny Huybregts, Tilburg University; Reinhard Muskens, Tilburg University; Henk van Riemsdijk, Tilburg University Elias Thijsse, Tilburg University; Frans Zwarts, Groningen University. OTHER IMPORTANT DATES: November 1, 1989 - notification of acceptance. December 15, 1989 - camera-ready copies due. REGISTRATION: The following registration fees are due: Students Non-students -------- ------------ (amounts in Dfl.) - Conference attendance (3 days) 40 140 (incl. Conference Proceedings, coffee, tea) - Lunch (3 days) 35 35 - Dinner/buffet 35 35 Registration will be accepted until December 1, 1989. MORE INFORMATION: For more information and/or application forms, please contact: Wietske Sijtsma and/or Arthur van Horck Tilburg University, ITK P.O. Box 90153 5000 LE Tilburg The Netherlands. email: wietske@htikub5.bitnet or {hp4nl}!itksu2!horck