foNETiks
a Network Newsletter
for the International Phonetic Association
and for the Phonetic Sciences
February 2000
Editors:
Linda Shockey, University of Reading, U.K.
Gerry Docherty, Newcastle University, U.K.
Paul Foulkes, Leeds University, U.K.
Lisa Lim, National University of Singapore
E-mail address:
[log in to unmask]
The foNETiks archive can be found on the WWW at:
http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists-f-j/fonetiks/
Visit the IPA web page at:
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/ipa.html
**************************************
ANNOUNCEMENTS
(New ones marked **)
(date of first appearance follows)
**************************************
1 - 3 March 2000. The Word in Phonology. German Society of Linguistics,
Marburg, Germany. [log in to unmask] (06/99)
2 - 24 March 2000. Declarative Analysis of the Syllable, University of
Nantes. [log in to unmask] (09/99)
11 March 2000. Informal Workshop on Declarative Phonology. Universite
de Nantes, France. [log in to unmask] (12/99)
3 - 6 April 2000. The Evolution of Language. Ecole Nationale Superieure
des Telecommunications, Paris, France. [log in to unmask];
http://www.infres.enst.fr/confs/evolang/ (08/99)
12 - 14 April 2000. RIAO2000 (Recherche d'Informations Assistee par
Ordinateur = Computer-Assisted Information Retrieval)
International Conference: Content-Based Multimedia Information
Access. Paris, France. [log in to unmask];
http://host.limsi.fr/RIAO (08/99)
28 - 30 April 2000. First North American Phonology Conference (NAPhC).
Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec. [log in to unmask];
[log in to unmask];
http://modlang-hale.concordia.ca/naphc.html (12/99)
29-30 April 2000. CLAW 2000: 3rd International Workshop on Controlled
Language Applications. Seattle, Washington. (Pre-conference
Workshop in conjunction with the joint meeting of the ANLP/NACLA
conferences (see entry below).
http://www.up.univ-mrs.fr/~veronis/claw2000 (12/99)
29 April - 3 May 2000. Language Technology Joint Conference: 6th
Applied Natural Language Processing (ANLP) Conference and the 1st
Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for
Computational Linguistics (NAACL). Seattle, Washington.
[log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask];
www.aclweb.org (12/99)
1 - 4 May 2000. 5th Speech Production Seminar: Models and Data. Kloster
Seeon, Bavaria, Germany. Email: [log in to unmask];
http://www.phonetik.uni-muenchen.de/~sps5 (08/99)
10 - 12 May 2000. SNLP 2000: The Fourth Symposium on Natural Language
Processing 2000. Chiangmai, Thailand.
www.nectec.or.th//sll//snlp2000; www.cpe.eng.kmutt.ac.th/~snlp
(12/99)
11 - 12 May 2000. VOICE OPERATED TELECOM SERVICES:
DO THEY HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE? Gent, Belgium
http://www.elis.rug.ac.be/cost249/workshop (1/00)
29 - 31 May 2000. Spoken Word Access Processes (SWAP). Jonkerbosch
Conference Centre. Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
http://www.mpi.nl/world/swap (08/99)
**30 May 2000. Development of Language Resources for Minority Languages.
Athens, Greece. [log in to unmask]; http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/SALTMIL/
lrec00.html (2/00)
31 May - 2 June 2000. LREC2000: The 2nd International Conference on
Language Resources and Evaluation. Athens, Greece.
http://www.icp.grenet.fr/ELRA/lrec2000.html (08/99)
12 - 16 June 2000. First International Natural Language Generation
Conference (INLG'2000). Mitzpe Ramon, Israel.
http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/~nlg2000/main.html (12/99)
15 - 17 June 2000. TENNET (Theoretical and Experimental Neuropsychology)
meeting, Montreal, Canada. http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/tennet
[log in to unmask] (09/99).
**22-23 June 2000. Utrecht Biannial Phonology Workshop: Typology in
Phonology. [log in to unmask] (2/00)
27 - 30 June 2000. EIS'2000: Second International ICSC Symposium on
Engineering of Intelligent Systems. University of Paisley,
Scotland, U.K. http://www.icsc.ab.ca/eis2000.htm (12/99)
29 June - 1 July 2000. LabPhon7. Max Planck Institute/University of
Nijmegen, The Netherlands. [log in to unmask];
http://www.let.kun.nl/labphon7/ (02/99)
29 June - 1 July 2000. ICLaVE 1 (Barcelona 2000): First International
Conference on Language Variation in Europe. Universitat Pompeu
Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. e-mail: [log in to unmask]
(08/99)
3 - 5 July 2000. Third Workshop on Human-Computer Conversation.
Bellagio, Italy. [log in to unmask];
http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/research/units/ilash/Meetings/bellagio2000/
(12/99)
10 July - 18 August 2000. Summer workshop on Language Technology. Johns
Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.
http://www.clsp.jhu.edu/ws2000/proposal.html (12/99)
23 - 27 July 2000. TISLR7: 7th Conference on Theoretical Issues in Sign
Language Research. Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
http://www.leidenuniv.nl/hil/sign-lang/tislr7/ (12/99)
16 - 19 August 2000. VIIIth meeting of the International Clinical
Phonetics and Linguistics Asociation. John MacIntyre Centre,
Edinburgh, Scotland. http://sls.qmced.ac.uk/ICPLA2000/index.htm
(07/99)
**21 - 25 August 2000. LP2000: Item order. Charles University, Prague.
[log in to unmask] (2/00)
5 - 7 September 2000. ISCA Workshop on Speech and Emotion.
Northern Ireland (venue tba).
http://www.qub.ac.uk/en/isca/index.htm (11/99)
13-16 September 2000. The Third International Workshop on Text, Speech
and Dialogue (TSD 2000). Brno, Czech Republic. [log in to unmask];
http://www.fi.muni.cz/tsd2000/ (12/99)
2 - 5 October 2000. Prosody 2000: speech recognition and
synthesis workshop. Krakow, Poland.
http://ptfon.wmid.amu.edu.pl (1/00)
9 - 12 November 2000. Meeting of the Language and Social Interaction
Division of the National Communication Association. Seattle, WA.
[log in to unmask];
http://www.natcom.org/convention/2000/call2000.html (12/99)
***************************************
CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS & MEETINGS
***************************************
Workshop on
Developing language resources for minority languages:
-----------------------------------------------------
reusability and strategic priorities
------------------------------------
Athens, Greece - May 30 (14:30 - 20:00)
(Preceding LREC2000 conference)
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/SALTMIL/lrec00.html
CALL FOR PAPERS
---------------
There will be a one-day workshop on the theme of "Developing language
resources for minority languages: re-useability and strategic priorities" on
the afternoon of May 30th 2000 at Athens, Greece (preceding the 2nd
International Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, LREC2000). The
aim of the workshop is to bring together those who are developing language
resources for minority languages, in order to build contacts and share
experience. The workshop will include the first meeting of the ISCA SALTMIL
SIG: "Speech and Language Technology for Minority Languages".
WORKSHOP SCOPE AND AIMS
-----------------------
The minority or "lesser used" languages of the world (e.g. Basque, Welsh,
Breton) are under increasing pressure from the major languages. Some of them
(e.g. Gaelic) are endangered, but others (e.g. Catalan) are in a stronger
position. However, the situation with regard to language resources is
fragmented and disorganised. Some minority languages have been adequately
researched linguistically, but most have not, and the vast majority do not yet
possess basic speech and language resources (such as text and speech corpora)
which are sufficient to permit commercial development of products.
If this situation were to continue, the minority languages of the world would
fall a long way behind the major languages, as regards the availability of
commercial speech and language products. This in turn will accelerate the
decline of those languages that are already struggling to survive, as speakers
are forced to use the majority language for interaction with these products.
To break this vicious circle, it is important to encourage the development of
basic language resources.
The workshop is a small step towards encouraging the development of such
resources. The aim is to disseminate information on existing projects and
possible future strategies, as well as forming personal contacts and sharing
best practice. This will make it easier for isolated researchers with little
funding and no pre-existing resources to begin developing language resources
that are maximally useful.
The workshop will also incorporate the first meeting of the ISCA "SALTMIL"
SIG: "Speech and Language Technology for MInority Languages".
Talks will include the following:
1) A general overview of the situation of minority languages.
(Donncha O'Croinin, Ireland)
2) Strategic priorities for the development of language technology in
minority languages.
(Kepa Sarasola, Basque Country)
3) Funding for research into language technology for minority languages.
(Bojan Petek, Slovenia)
The contributed poster papers will focus on existing projects in the
field, with the opportunity to share useful information. This includes
(but is not limited to) topics such as:
1) Presentations of existing speech and text databases for minority
languages, with particular emphasis on software tools that have been
found useful in their development.
2) Presentation of existing lexicons for minority languages, with
particular emphasis on fast production methods.
Submissions
-----------
Papers are invited that will describe existing speech and language resources
for minority languages (speech databases, text databases, and lexicons), also
papers based on the analysis of these resources. All contributed papers will
be presented in poster form. Abstracts (maximum 500 words) should be sent to:
Donncha O'Croinin, ITE, 31 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, Ireland.
email: [log in to unmask]
Electronic submission is preferred (plain text, Postscript, or MS Word 6.0).
Those who wish to attend without offering a paper are asked to indicate their
interest to Donncha O'Croinin ([log in to unmask]) in order to receive their own
copy of the final programme and registration details.
The workshop webpage is at: http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/SALTMIL/lrec00.html
Important dates
---------------
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 11 February 2000
Notification of acceptance: 3 March 2000
Camera-ready papers due: 28 March 2000
Workshop: 30 May (afternoon)
Organizers
----------
Briony Williams University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Donncha O'Croinin Linguistics Institute of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
Climent Nadeu Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Catalunya, Spain
Kepa Sarasola University of the Basque Country, Basque Country
Bojan Petek University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LREC2000 CONFERENCE INFORMATION
-------------------------------
31 May - 2 June 2000, Athens, Greece
General information about the main conference is at:
http://www.icp.grenet.fr/ELRA/lrec2000.html)
Specific queries about the conference should be directed to:
Ms. Despina Scutari
LREC Secretariat
Institute for Language and Speech Processing (ILSP)
6, Artemidos & Epidavrou Str.
15125 Marousi
Athens
GREECE
Tel: +301 6800959
Fax: +301 6854270
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
*****************************
Call for participationticipation
WORKSHOP IN DECLARATIVE PHONOLOGY
Universite de Nantes
March 11 2000
Programme and Registration information available at:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/alain.thriault2/WORKSHOP.html
For more information please contact me at:
Alain Thriault<[log in to unmask]>
********************************
First Call for Papers
LP 2000 : Item order - its variety and linguistic and phonetic consequences
To be held at Charles University, Prague
August 21st -25th, 2000
LP 2000 [Linguistics and Phonetics] is organized by the Department of
Linguistics and Phonetics of Charles University in Prague in
cooperation with The Ohio State University and Prague-based Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty. It is the fifth in a series of LP conferences
established after the democratic changes in 1989.
The theme of the last three conferences (LPs 1994 (Prague), 1996
(Prague) and 1998 (Columbus, OH) ) was item order in various contexts:
typology, universals, speech production, processes of prosodic
patterns in discourse and others. (see the proceedings of the
conferences: http://www.cuni.cz/lp
The term item order covers any linguistic unit such as phoneme,
morpheme, syllable, word, phrase, clause, sentence, utterance,
etc. The aim of LP 2000 is to contribute to the explanation of the
role of item order in the theory of universal grammar and in
parametric variation (namely in the process of linearization) in
various languages.
Proposed topics:
a) the role of item order in various grammatical systems (such as
consequences for movements, optional and free movements -
i.e. scrambling and free word order, symmetry and asymmetry in syntax)
b) the role of item order in the structure of phonetic organization of
utterances (phonemoidicity vs phonology, prosody).
c) the role of item order for semantic and pragmatic understanding of
sentences and discourse
d) the various forms of representation of item order (including
orthographic transcription systems, written language etc), sign
orderings.
Similarly as at LP'98 in Columbus Ohio, we plan to hold workshops devoted to
individual areas of interest.
Proposed workshops to date:
I. Prosodic organization of speech in discourse (chaired by Osamu Fujimura):
II. Word order in typologically different languages / Armenian, Thaiwanese,
Korean, Czech, among others /
The list of workshops will be permanently update as suggestions come
in (see http://www.cuni.cz/lp)
We expect your proposals for lectures not later than February 29, 2000
Abstracts of papers should be made available by March 15, 2000
Contact the organizers directly [log in to unmask] (linguistics) or
[log in to unmask] (phonetics)
*************************************
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Fourth Utrecht Biannual Phonology Workshop
Rene Kager & Wim Zonneveld, organizers
Utrecht Institute of Linguistics - OTS
22-23 June, 2000
Theme: Typology in Phonology
Invited speakers: Ellen Broselow (SUNY Stony Brook) and Paul Kiparsky
(Stanford University)
Deadline for abstracts: 1 April 2000
Theme description: The aim of this workshop is to consider the role of
negative typological evidence in phonological theory. That is, we will
approach the research field of Phonological Typology not from the standard
viewpoint of existing languages of two or more types, vis-a-vis a given
phenomenon, but from that of the existing/non-existing language type
dichotomy, with an emphasis on the latter: which type of language is
actually never found, why is its absence principled rather than accidental,
and how is its absence explained in formal theories of phonology.
Gaps in typologies have played an important role in phonological theory
(for example, the iambic-trochaic asymmetry in metrical phonology). Since
the primary goal of linguistic theory is to define the notion of "possible
natural language", the question arises to what extent systematic gaps in
typologies reflect genuine properties of human language, or conversely, to
what extent such gaps are accidental only. What criteria render negative
typological evidence relevant to phonological theory?
High priority will be given to papers that have one or more of the
following properties. Its typological claims:
* are based on existing and identified corpora, and/or defined literature
searches (and perhaps only lastly on reasonable hunches or gut feelings);
* are made against the background of overt criteria regarding the
relevance of typological gaps (or stated differently, the observed
typological gap constitutes an empirical surprise rather than a
trivial observation inviting just a formal exercise);
* are formalized in an overtly stated theoretical framework.
We will especially welcome contributions that highlight issues such as:
* an appraisal (weak and strong points) of the corpus approach to their
material;
* the role of phonetic experimental explanation in phonology;
* the differences and similarities between a formalization and an explanation;
* relations between phonological and morphological typology (for example,
directionality of phonological processes in prefixing versus suffixing
languages), or syntactic typology (for example, the side of the head in
syntactic and phonological phrases);
* explanations for typological gaps in terms of converging gradient
factors
(for example, the convergence of directionality and foot type in leftward
iambic systems).
It must be emphatically noted that the contents of the workshop are also
intended to cover:
* (corpus-based) descriptions and explanations of existing vs.
non-existing historical developments;
* observed principled differences between child and adult languages (for
example, the wide-spread occurrence of consonant harmony in child language);
* empirically supported pleas for (further) typological investigations of
an identified research area;
* empirically supported pleas for establishing new corpora between
existing ones.
Submission of abstracts. Abstracts are requested to have a maximum length
of a single page, with an optional second page for examples and references.
Send two anonymous abstracts and one marked with the author's name and
affiliation to:
Rene Kager
Trans 10
3512 JK Utrecht
The Netherlands
No e-mail submissions, please. (Electronic versions of accepted abstracts
will be requested at a later stage.) Any queries: [log in to unmask] or
[log in to unmask]
*********************************************
POSITIONS VACANT & RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
*********************************************
Rank of Job: MA or Ph.D.
Areas Required: Speech Recognition Lexicographer
Other Desired Areas: Phonetics and Morphology
University or Organization: Volt Computer Services
Department:
State or Province: Washington
Country: USA
Final Date of Application: None
Contact: Michelle Lovitt [log in to unmask]
Address for Applications:
8471 154th Ave, NE
Redmond
WA 98052
USA
American Language Speech Recognition Lexicographer - Native Speaker
Review and test American English Speech Recognition lexicons in a
database or in files. Seeks speech recognition information as needed to
perform lexicon review tasks effectively. May be called on to assist in
accuracy testing, language phrase corpus gathering and data maintenance
tasks. Works under supervision of more senior Testers.
Responsibilities include assuring the consistency, quality and coverage
of the pronunciation lexicon for American English Speech Recognition
products to insure the highest level of performance of speech
recognition accuracy. Includes verification of current word
pronunciation and addition of new pronunciations as needed. Test
responsibilities include development of test procedures to assess the
overall quality of lexicons and the quality of automatic pronunciation
generation using letter to sound rules and morphology. Native speaker of
American English is assumed. MA or Ph.D. in linguistics and focus on
phonetics are preferred. Experience with test methodology is a plus.
Please apply via e-mail.
**************************
University of Leeds
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
Department of Linguistics and Phonetics
Lectureship in Phonetics
The post of Lecturer in Phonetics is available in the Department of
Linguistics and Phonetics, University of Leeds, from 1 August
2000. The successful candidate will have a proven record of
research and teaching in the fields of general and
experimental/instrumental phonetics, and will be required to teach
the subject at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, supervise
research students, and undertake research and publication.
Research and teaching interests in an additional area of the
discipline, including (but not limited to) speech technology,
phonological theory, language acquisition, speech disorders,
sociolinguistics and language variation, would be advantageous.
Salary: Lecturer A/B (17,238 - 30,065 sterling p.a.)
Informal enquiries to Dr. Anthony Fox (Head of Department), tel.
+44 (0)113 233 3563 or +44 (0)113 233 3567; fax +44 (0)113 233
3566; e-mail [log in to unmask]
Application forms and further particulars are available from Human
Resources, The University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK, tel +44
(0)113 233 5771 (textphone for deaf applicants only: +44 (0)113
233 4353), e-mail [log in to unmask] or from
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/jobadverts/. Please quote job ref: 011-001-
002-009
For further information about the University of Leeds and the
Department of Linguistics and Phonetics http://www.leeds.ac.uk.
Closing date: 18 February 2000.
Towards Equal Opportunities.
*******************************
The Graduate Institute of Linguistics at Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, has a
tenure-track position at the assistant professor level for a Ph. D. in
Linguistics specializing in Phonology (with a minor in the following areas
preferred: Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, Austronesian Linguistics,
Psycholinguistics, Field Methods) Please send c.v., three letters of
recommendation, statement of research interests, and samples of works prior to
March 1, 2000 to:
Search Committee
Graduate Institute of Linguistics
National Tsing Hua University
101, Sec.2. Kuang-fu Rd.,
Hsin-chu 300, Taiwan, R. O. C.
*****************************************
Chair of the Department of Linguistics. The Faculty of Arts at the
University of Ottawa invites applications and nominations for the position
of Chair of the Department of Linguistics. This tenured appointment will
be made at the rank of senior Associate or Full Professor, effective 1
July 2000, preferably. Applicants will be bilingual (English and French)
and will have an international research profile in one or more central
fields of the discipline (theoretical, empirical, experimental or applied
linguistics), interest in cooperation between subdisciplines, recognized
leadership qualities, and proven excellence in graduate and undergraduate
teaching. Salary commensurate with qualifications according to the
Collective Agreement. The University of Ottawa is committed to an
employment equity program and strongly encourages applications from women
and minorities. Applications, including a curriculum vitae, sample
publications, and three letters of reference should be sent before 24
March 2000 to : Dr. David Staines, Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of
Ottawa, P.O. Box 450, Stn A, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5.
***********************************
Conversa - Conversationalizing the Internet. Delivering solutions for
interacting with computers, the Internet and communication devices by voice.
Conversa brings the natural and universal interface of voice to PCs, PDAs,
cellular phones and other electronic devices. By adding the human element
to computing - and de-emphasizing typing, mouse clicking and touchtone
dialing - we're making it easier for people to adopt conversational
computing into their everyday lives.
Our goal is to become the global standard for end-to-end solutions for
internet/web based Conversational Computing(R).
Visit our website at www.conversa.com! We're a pre-IPO start up in
Redmond, Washington. We have an entrepreneurial, casual work environment
where successes both great and small are celebrated, excellent benefits
(including stock options), lots of parties, concierge service, fully paid
health insurance for the entire family and we encourage innovation through
outstanding reward programs. If this is your kind of company, we should
talk.
Please submit your resumes to:
[log in to unmask]
Speech Scientist
The successful candidate will help improve and create core technical
resources and algorithms in the areas of speech recognition and
text-to-speech (TTS). The candidate will help to develop and apply
objective techniques to measure technology improvements under conditions
that reflect Conversa's products and markets.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities:
* Work with existing text-to-speech or speech recognition algorithms
to extend and improve them
* Develop new algorithms for text-to-speech or speech recognition
* Extend algorithms and supporting resources for new languages
* Consult with developers on optimal application of the technology
* Consult with marketing to access potential new applications
* Perform any other duties which may be assigned or necessary
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
* DSP, Statistics, Acoustic Phonetics, Search, algorithm design
* Knowledge of signal analysis tools
* C/C++, DSP programming, Windows, Unix
* Knowledge of multiple languages beneficial
Education, Certification, Training and/or Minimum Qualifications:
* Ph.D. or equivalent in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or
related field
* At least 2 years experience with speech technology
* Previous experience with speech applications a strong plus
Additional Information:
* Able to work with limited supervision
* Able to communicate effectively with scientists, developers, and
marketers
* Adaptable and Creative
* Self-motivated
* Willing to relocate to Redmond, Washington
Speech Engineer-Training
The successful candidate will train Conversa's proprietary text-to-speech
and speech recognition system from recorded speech corpora to accommodate
new languages. Training will include the selection of an appropriate phoneme
set, training of text-to-speech and speech recognition data files, and
training of spelling-to-pronunciation rule set.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities:
* Establish an appropriate phone set for each new language
* Design and conduct experiments to improve engine performance
* Use in-house tools to train text-to-speech and speech recognition
data files from recorded speech corpora
* Use in-house tools to train spelling-to-pronunciation data files
* Perform training of other data files as necessary
* Perform any other duties which may be assigned or necessary
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
* Thorough knowledge of acoustic phonetics and phonology
* Knowledge of multiple languages a strong plus
* Familiarity with running programs in a Windows 98/NT environment
Education, Certification, Training and/or Minimum Qualifications
* M.A., Ph.D., or equivalent in Acoustic Phonetics, Phonology, or
Morphology
* Previous experience with speech applications a strong plus
Additional Information
* Able to work with limited supervision
* Strong problem-solving skills
* Willing to relocate to Redmond, Washington
*************************************
The Department of Linguistic Science, University of Reading, U.K., is
seeking to fill the following post:
Lectureship in Language Pathology
The person appointed must have a higher degree, good teaching skills and
be able to contribute to the department's research profile. A clinical
qualification in speech and language therapy is essential. Applicants
with an interest in paediatric speech and language disorders and a
commitment to high quality clinical teaching will be especially
welcome. The appointment will be made on the Lecturer B scale according
to experience and qualification. Closing date for applications: 28th
February. Post ref: AC0003
Further information about the department can be found at
http://www.linguistics.reading.ac.uk
For further particulars and application form, please contact the
Personnel
Office, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6
6AH. Telephone: 0118 931 6771. e-mail [log in to unmask]
For any other enquiries, please contact the Head of Department,
P.J. Roach ([log in to unmask])
**********************************
Material for the March issue of 'foNETiks' should reach us by February 26.
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