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Sesquipedalian #29
the SESQUIPEDALIAN Volume VII, No. 29
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The Great Train Robbery (1868) May 22, 1997
TRUE MAINTENANCE
Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by US Air Force
pilots and the replies from the maintenance crews.
Problem: "Left inside main tire almost needs replacement."
Solution: "Almost replaced left inside main tire."
Problem: "Test flight OK, except autoland very rough."
Solution: "Autoland not installed on this aircraft."
Problem: "The autopilot doesn't."
Signed off: "IT DOES NOW."
Problem: "Something loose in cockpit."
Solution: "Something tightened in cockpit."
Problem: "Evidence of hydraulic leak on right main landing gear."
Solution: "Evidence removed."
Problem: "DME volume unbelievably loud."
Solution: "Volume set to more believable level."
Problem: "Dead bugs on windshield."
Solution: "Live bugs on order."
Problem: "Autopilot in altitude hold mode produces a 200 fpm
descent."
Solution: "Cannot reproduce problem on ground."
Problem: "IFF inoperative."
Solution: "IFF inoperative in OFF mode."
Problem: "Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick."
Solution: "That's what they're there for."
Problem: "Number three engine missing."
Solution: "Engine found on right wing after brief search."
-/-\-/ LINGUISTICS COLLOQUIUM /-\-/-
Friday, May 23, 3:30pm
Margaret Jacks Hall (460), Room 146
Henriette de Swart
Stanford Univeristy
Negation and the Temporal Structure of Narrative Discourse
In this talk I present joint work with Arie Molendijk from the
University of Groningen on the temporal role of negative sentences in
narrative discourse in English and French. The analysis focuses on
differences in the aspectual system of English and French, and their
consequences for the interpretation of negation and quantification in
an event-based semantics. A recursive rule for the introduction of
discourse referents characterizes both quantificational and negated
sentences as complex states. The notion of coercion explains why
states (including complex states) can behave as events at the level of
narrative discourse. The analysis is implemented in the framework of
Discourse Representation theory (DRT) developed by Kamp and Reyle
(1993).
------------------
Reception follows.
For directions and a complete list of colloquia, see
http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu/Linguistics/colloq/colloq.html
-/-\-/ PHONOLOGY WORKSHOP /-\-/-
Rm 146, Bldg 460
Thursday 5/22/97 7:30pm
THEMES ON MORPHOLOGY-DRIVEN ACCENTUATION
FEET, HEADS AND CONSTRAINTS
Anthi Revithiadou
Leiden University/HIL & Stanford University
The enigmatic nature of systems with lexically determined stress has
played a small role in the development of stress theory, mainly
because these systems were considered to lack rhythmic properties.
This talk falsifies this myth. The peculiarity of lexical accent
systems relies on the fact that prosodic constraints are intricately
interwoven with morphological principles.Two main claims will be put
forward: First, the distribution of lexical marks is restricted by
constraints which condition the prosodic wellformedness of words.
Such a restricted theory of marking implies that the positions
occupied by lexical marks can be predicted. Second, primary stress is
dependent on the structural roles morphemes have in a word. More
specifically, morphemes in head positions have the privilege to
upgrade their inherent accent into the primary stress of the word.
However, prosodic principles take charge when morphology is unable to
determine primary stress.
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All are welcome for pre-workshop pizza (7:00pm). RSVP.
-/-\-/ SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FORUM /-\-/-
"Thinking, Meaning, and Speaking"
Avrom Faderman
Stanford Philosophy
Thursday, 22 May, 4:15pm
Margaret Jacks Hall 146
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THINKING, MEANING, AND SPEAKING
David Kaplan has said he wants to study language independent
of "awful psychological gum." The attempt to break linguistic--
and even mental--semantics away from the functioning of our mental
economies is much of what characterizes the last quarter century
of the philosophy of language.
Of course, the mind is "awful psychological gum," and language
is an interface between two or more wads of "awful psychological
gum." A study of language that ignores its function as such an
interface--that tries to keep it a simple, elegant, and logically
pure system--leaves a central feature, perhaps *the* central
feature, entirely out of the picture.
My project of the past few years, which I will summarize in
my talk, has been to present and defend a philosophy of language
that brings semantics closer to "awful psychological gum."
Biography
*********
Avrom Faderman is a graduate student in Philosophy. He is completing
his dissertation, entitled "Thinking, Meaning, and Speaking:
Reconsidering Conceptual Role Semantics."
-\-/-\ LLC-6 \-/-\-
THE SIXTH CSLI WORKSHOP ON LOGIC, LANGUAGE, AND COMPUTATION
Dates: May 30-June 1 1997
Location: Cordura Hall Conference Room, Stanford University
This workshop brings together scholars having an interest in
logic - philosophers, linguists and computer scientists - with the
overall aim of facilitating interdisciplinary interaction.
It is organized by Johan van Benthem, Henriette de Swart
Grigori Mints, Rob van Glabbeek, and Martina Faller
This year's program reflects the usual lively mix of topics and
interests that CSLI was designed to bring together. It includes
recent developments in dynamic processing of linguistic and
non-linguistic information, as well as key techniques from
mathematical logic that underlie both formal proof and computation.
The mix also includes contributions by established researchers and by
newcomers to the field, in line with a long-standing tradition.
Finally, some contributions this year reflect the growing interactions
with a broader world, witness talks on logic teaching, as well as
presentations by representatives of industry and high performance
computing. We hope to broaden our 'circle of debate'.
See the LLC6 webpage for more information on speakers, abstracts and
schedule: http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu/Linguistics/llc6
or mailto:faller@csli.stanford.edu
-\-/-\ JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS \-/-\-
(REDUNDANCY NOTICE: For fuller listings of these and other jobs, don't
forget to check the Jobs binder in the Greenberg Room, and the file
'jobslist.txt' on the CSLI directory /user/linguistics.)
-- UNIVERSITAET TUEBINGEN: The Division of Computational Linguistics
in the Dept. of Linguistics at the University of Tuebingen, Germany is
searching for a
1. a theoretical/computational linguist with research and teaching
experience in the linguistic and computational aspects of
constraint-based grammar formalisms, particularly of HPSG.
2. a computational linguist with research and teaching
experience in stochastic and corpus-based approaches to computational
linguistics.
Preference will be given to applicants in the above mentioned areas.
Knowledge of German is highly desirable. However, outstanding
applicants in other areas of theoretical or computational linguistics
who complement existing strengths in the department will be
considered.
Duties for both posts include teaching (1 four-hour course per
semester), independent research and participation in
externally-funded, on-going research projects.
The starting date for both positions is July 1st, 1997.
The positions are at the rank of "Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter"
(M.A. or equivalent required) and "Wissenschaftlicher Assistent"
(Ph.D. or equivalent required). The salary is on the German payscale
of BAT IIa and C1, respectively; minimum of 70 000 DM per year).
The initial contract for both positions is for three years (until June
2000), with the possibility of renewal for two additional years (at
the rank of Wiss. Mitarbeiter) or three additional years (at the rank
of Wiss. Assistent).
Applications should include CV and an outline of research and teaching
experience/interests. Names and addresses of references would be
helpful. Applications should be sent by mail or email to the address
below.
Prof. Erhard W. Hinrichs
Seminar fuer Sprachwissenschaft, Abt. Computerlinguistik
Eberhard-Karls Universitaet Tuebingen
Kleine Wilhelmstr. 113
D-72074 Tuebingen, Germany
mailto:sekr@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de
Applications received by June 15th, 1997 will receive full
consideration, although interviews may start at any time.
-- VISITING POSITIONS AT NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY COMPUTING
RESEARCH LABORATORY: The Computing Research Laboratory (CRL) at New
Mexico State University has two Visiting Research Fellow positions in
our natural language processing R&D team. The positions are for one
year, with a possibility of an extension. Salaries will be
commensurate with the experience and skill level of the successful
applicants and will be in the range of $32,000 - $50,000. The
positions will be filled as soon as possible. The successful
candidate will be a top-notch programmer. Knowledge in at least one of
the following areas is required:
- natural language processing;
- compiler design and implementation;
- graphical user interfaces.
A Ph.D. degree is not strictly required.
Responsibilities: Writing software for a variety of natural
language-related applications, including one or more of the following:
complex pattern matchers, parsers, generators, information extraction
modules, summarizers, fast indexing schemes, interactive tools for
knowledge acquirers and end users.
CRL is an internationally acclaimed center of research
excellence. The laboratory mainly focuses on natural language
processing applications (machine translation, multilingual information
retrieval, extraction and summarization), interface design, and
knowledge representation.
Information about CRL projects can be found at
http://crl.nmsu.edu The projects are led by Sergei Nirenburg, Jim
Cowie, Bill Ogden and Remi Zajac. The senior research staff include:
Stephen Beale, David Farwell, Stephen Helmreich, Wanying Jin, Kavi
Mahesh, Victor Raskin (also of Purdue University), Svetlana
Sheremetyeva and Evelyne Viegas.
Send applications and inquiries, preferably by e-mail, to:
Sergei Nirenburg
Director, Computing Research Laboratory 505 646 5466 (voice)
Professor, Computer Science 505 646 6218 (fax)
New Mexico State University sergei@crl.nmsu.edu
Box 30001, Dept. 3CRL
Las Cruces, NM 88003
-- ORACLE CORPORATION: Product Development position available
immediately. CONTACT PERSON: Veronique Anxolabehere
(vanxolab@us.oracle.com, (415) 506-4056).
QUALIFICATIONS
DEGREE/MAJOR: B.S. in Linguistics, Computational linguistics or
Artificial Intelligence.
YRS EXPERIENCE: 5+ in Information Technology
OTHER:
- Candidate must be a native German speaker and fluent in English
- Must have deep interest in language and cognitive science
- Good written communication skills are a must
- Fluency in French, Dutch, or Italian, or Portuguese preferred
- Familiarity with UNIX, C, SQL preferred
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Maintenance of German lexicon and knowledge base
- Development of multi/interlingual lexicons
- Development of automated linguistic tools
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Veronique Anxolabehere Oracle Corporation
ConText Globalization Manager 500 Oracle Parkway
ConText Group Mail Stop 5op10
mailto:vanxolab@us.oracle.com Redwood Shores, CA 94065
Voice +1 (415) 506-4056 Fax +1 (415) 633-1361
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- COGENTEX: CoGenTex is a small company specialized in text
generation. We have a need for a syntactician to work on our grammar
of English over the summer. Our grammar is a multistratal dependency
grammar based on Melcuk's Meaning-Text Theory (Melcuk 1988). However,
no special knowledge of dependency grammar is needed, assuming a
reasonable understanding of syntax and a native-speaker command of
English. The work could be full time or part time, and could be
performed either in Philadelphia, PA, or in Ithaca, NY (site of the
LSA Institute). Work could start immediately or a bit later.
Compensation commensurate with syntactic acumen.
If interested, please contact Owen Rambow at:
CoGenTex, Inc. Tel: (607) 266 0363 Ext 26
840 Hanshaw Road Fax: (607) 266 0364
Suite 11 mailto:owen@cogentex.com
Ithaca, NY 14850-1589 http://www.cogentex.com/
-- CCRA: We are currently seeking a bilingual individual for a
position at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte
California. This individual would be a part of our research team
working with some of our neighboring Ethnic communities. The position
title is "Minority Outreach Coordinator". I was hoping your society
might be of some help finding a qualified bilingual individual seeking
a professional position doing clinical research.
Contact: Jacqueline Hilger, CCRA
Clinical Research Coordinator
mailto:jhilger@smtplink.Coh.ORG
(REDUNDANCY NOTICE: For fuller listings of these and other jobs, don't
forget to check the Jobs binder in the Greenberg Room, and the file
'jobslist.txt' on the CSLI directory /user/linguistics.)
-\-/-\ INSTA-PRIZE \-/-\-
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