Subject: Workshop Deadline Extension: "Discourse Relations and Discourse Markers"
From: Priscilla Rasmussen <rasmusse@cs.rutgers.edu>
To: elsnet-list@cogsci.ed.ac.uk
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 98 14:32:20 EST


=======================================
DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED!

In response to concerns about the short
time span between the final cfp issued
a few days ago and the original submis-
sion deadline, it has been decided to
extend the deadline by 3 weeks.
Please see the revised timetable below.
=======================================


(Final) Call for papers


                             Coling-ACL '98 workshop

                   "Discourse Relations and Discourse Markers"

                                August 15, 1998
                             Université de Montréal
                                Montréal/Canada



(See also: http://flp.cs.tu-berlin.de/~marker/aclcolingws.html)

The notion of discourse relation has received many different
interpretations, some of which are hardly compatible with one
another. Nonetheless, there is a consensus among researchers that
intersegment relations hold between adjacent portions of a text and
that these relations may be signalled by linguistic means, including
so-called cue phrases, aspect and mood shifts, theme inversions, and
other markers.

The workshop intends to bring together researchers working on
discourse relations and discourse markers in different linguistic
traditions and different NLP applications. The particular focus of the
workshop is the issue of discourse relations from the viewpoint of
linguistic realization. Specifically, contributions should address one
or more of the following questions:

o What are sound methodologies for comparing similar discourse markers
(contrastive studies, distribution analyses, etc.)?

o What are sound methodologies for relating discourse relations with
potential realizations?

o Are there discourse relations that are always lexically signalled?
Are there any that are never lexically signalled?

o What non-lexical (i.e., syntactic or prosodic) means are used to
signal a relation?

o In production, how does one decide whether to signal a relation at
all?

o In production, how does one motivate a choice among candidate
signals for a given relation?

o In production, how does the choice of signal interact with other
decisions (in particular, those of linearizing some tree or graph
structure)?

o In analysis, is it possible to reliably infer discourse relations
from surface cues?

o In analysis, how can one disambiguate polysemous signals such as
"and", "since" (temporal or causal) etc.?

o What are useful lexical representations of discourse markers, for
both analysis and production?

o What are useful representations of discourse relations (and the
entities they relate), such that they facilitate the realization
decision? What features would one like to have handy in a
representation so that choices can be made easily?

o Are there significant differences between realizations in spoken and
written language?

o How do individual languages differ in terms of any of the above
issues?



Organizing committee

The workshop is organized by

      Manfred Stede (TU Berlin)
      Leo Wanner (University of Stuttgart)
      Eduard Hovy (ISI/USC, Marina del Rey)



Requirements for submission

      Papers are invited that address any of the topics listed above.
      Maximum length is 8 pages including figures and references.
      Please use A4 or US letter format and set margins so that the
      text lies within a rectangle of 6.5 x 9 inches (16.5 x 23 cm).
      Use classical fonts such as Times Roman or Computer Modern, 11
      to 12 points for text, 14 to 16 points for headings and title.
      LaTeX users are encouraged to use the style file provided by
      ACL: http://coling-acl98.iro.umontreal.ca/colaclsub.sty Papers
      can be submitted either electronically in PostScript format, or
      as hardcopies.

Submissions from North America should be sent to:

Eduard Hovy
Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6695
U.S.A.
hovy@isi.edu

Submissions from elsewhere should be sent to either of the following:

Manfred Stede                 Leo Wanner
TU Berlin                     Computer Science Department
KIT Project Group             Intelligent Systems Group
Sekr. FR 6-10                 University of Stuttgart
Franklinstr. 28/29            Breitwiesenstr. 20-22
D-10587 Berlin                D-70565 Stuttgart
Germany                       Germany
stede@cs.tu-berlin.de         wannerlo@informatik.uni-stuttgart.de



Timetable

Deadline for electronic submissions: April 6, 1998
Deadline for hardcopy submissions: April 9 (arrival date)
Notification of acceptance: May 25, 1998
Final manuscripts due: June 15, 1998



Program committee

      Sandra Carberry (U Delaware)
      Barbara DiEugenio (U Pittsburgh)
      Eduard Hovy (USC/ISI)
      Alistair Knott (U Edinburgh)
      Alex Lascarides (U Edinburgh)
      Owen Rambow (Cogentex Inc.)
      Ted Sanders (U Utrecht)
      Donia Scott (U Brighton)
      Wilbert Spooren (U Tilburg)
      Manfred Stede (TU Berlin)
      Keith Vander Linden (Calvin College)
      Marilyn Walker (ATT Labs)
      Leo Wanner (U Stuttgart)