Workshop “Computational Models of Language Generation and Processing in Pragmatics”

Organizers:
Anton Benz (SiGames, ZAS Berlin), Michael Franke (Pro^3, Tübingen), Matthias Unterhuber (BayesPrag@EEG, Bochum) and Markus Werning (BayesPrag@EEG, Bochum) together with the DFG-project BAPAGiD (Ralf Klabunde, U Bochum, and Anton Benz & Christoph Hesse, ZAS Berlin)

Time and venue:
26.-28. September 2018 at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany

→Link to the webpage of the workshop

Description:
Computational pragmatics, understood as an interdisciplinary field at the interface between Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy provides computational models of pragmatic reasoning that are intrinsically tied to experimentally collected data and their analysis. It covers different aspects of pragmatic reasoning, and it might be understood as an interdisciplinary endeavor to understand how contextual information influences the production and interpretation of utterances.

Call for Papers
With this workshop, we are primarily targeting contributions that develop computational models as a method that advances our understanding of cognitive and neural processes underlying language use. In particular, the workshop will provide a forum for the discussion of methodological questions and related theoretical issues that arise for researchers working at the interface between computational modelling and experimental research. Topics of the workshop include, but are not limited to, the following issues:

  • Implicature calculation and its implementation in NLP systems: methods and experimental insights
  • Interaction of implicature calculation with information structure, discourse relations, dialogue management etc.
  • Computational models of reference and their experimental backing
  • Pragmatic constraints on content selection in natural language generation
  • Computational models of experimental data in pragmatic processing
  • Computational systems as a means for experimental research
  • Neuro- and psycholinguistic investigation of pragmatic processes and their computational models

We invite submissions of extended abstracts (2 pages), outlining original research and innovative approaches, to be sent to: compprag18@linguistics.rub.de

Important Dates
June 1st: Deadline for submissions
August 1st: Notification of acceptance
September 1st: Camera-ready versions of the submissions
September 26-28: Workshop

Invited Speakers
Raquel Fernández (University of Amsterdam)
Christopher Potts (Stanford University)
Ehud Reiter (University of Aberdeen)
Hannah Rohde (University of Edinburgh)