Special Issue of "Applied Intelligence"

[Michael Towsey]

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

The submission of papers is invited for a special issue on

  "Neural Networks and Machine Learning
       for Natural Language Processing"

in    "Applied Intelligence:
        The International Journal of Artificial Intelligence,
        Neural Networks, and Complex Problem-Solving Techniques"


GUEST EDITORS:
               Joachim Diederich
               Claudia Brugman
               Michael Towsey


ISSUE THEME:

At the core of several disciplines is the question of natural language
processing, and its relationship, mediated by language acquisition, to
innate linguistic knowledge. Studies in neurophysiology, as well as
recent connectionist natural language processing models, have
challenged the "poverty of the stimulus" argument and the existence of
"Universal Grammar" as innate grammatical structure. Classical
generative linguistic theory assumes a modular, encapsulated and
autonomous representation of grammatical knowledge which is
independent of other representations.  This assumption is consistent
with the view that grammatical knowledge is genetically programmed and
pre-wired in the brain and implies at the level of evolution a
possible sudden emergence of linguistic competence, a capacity which
is not shared by other species.

Related to the issues of innateness and acquisition is the issue of
language universals.  As described above, "Universal Grammar" is
characterised in terms of innate and modular structures.  The
relationship between this notion of universal and the empiricist
notion of language universal, in terms of properties all languages
share, has also been the object of hypothesis and study, and both must
be accounted for in any model of the innate aspects of language
competence. Moreover, any theory that addresses the neurobiological
basis of language acquisition must address the question of how the
brain can realise the computation required for language processing.

We invite articles which address any of these related issues from the
point of view of neural network representation or more general,
machine learning for natural language processing. At the core of the
research topics outlined above is the question of how much prior
knowledge is necessary for natural language learning and how this
question can be addressed by theoretical or empirical studies.

The theme of this special issue comprises
* the investigation of the underlying theoretical foundations, including
  computational learning theory

* the implementation and evaluation of methods for learning natural
  language with neural networks or other machine learning approaches, and

* applications of such learning systems in various domains.


TOPICS OF INTEREST

The list below gives some examples of intended topics:

*  spoken language acquisition
*  connectionist approaches for learning the syntax and semantics of
   natural languages
*  statistical approaches for language acquisition
*  hybrid systems (symbolic machine learning/neural network) for
   learning natural languages
*  genetic algorithms for language acquisition
*  inductive learning for language acquisition, including decision-tree
   learners and inductive logic programming.
*  comparative evaluations of different machine learning methods


SUBMISSION PROCESS

Prospective authors should send an electronic mail message by 10th
January 2000 indicating their intent to submit a paper to the guest
editor of the special issue, Prof. Joachim Diederich
(joachim at fit.qut.edu.au).  This message should contain a preliminary
abstract and three to five keywords.

Six hard copies of the final manuscript should be sent to the guest
editor (not to the Applied Intelligence Editorial office) at the
following address:

Professor Joachim Diederich
Machine Learning Research Centre
Faculty of Information Technology
Queensland University of Technology
GPO 2434
Brisbane 4001 QLD Australia

To speed up the reviewing process, authors should also send a PostScript
version of the paper via email to the guest editor.

Prospective authors can find further information about the journal on
the home page

        http://kapis.www.wkap.nl/journalhome.htm/0924-669X


SCHEDULE:

        Expressions of interest:           January 10, 2000
        Paper submission deadline:         March 31, 2000
        Review decision by:                May 31, 2000
        Final manuscript due:              July 31, 2000

_________________________________________________

Submitted by Michael Towsey