[CogSci] First CfP: Workshop on Semantic Spaces at the Intersection of NLP, Physics, and Cognitive Science (SemSpace2020)

[Martha Lewis]

[with apologies for cross-posting]

CALL FOR PAPERS

Workshop on Semantic Spaces at the Intersection of NLP, Physics, and Cognitive Sciences

https://sites.google.com/view/semspace2020/home <https://sites.google.com/view/semspace2020/home> 

Co-located with ESSLLI 2020 (https://www.esslli.eu/ <https://www.esslli.eu/>)

August 8th and 9th 2020
Utrecht, The Netherlands

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AIMS AND SCOPE
Vector embeddings of word meanings have become a mainstream tool in large scale natural language processing tools. The use of vectors to represent meanings in semantic spaces or feature spaces is also employed in cognitive science. Unrelated to natural language and cognitive science, vectors and vector spaces have been extensively used as models of physical theories and especially the theory of quantum mechanics. Crucial similarities between the vector representations of quantum mechanics and those of natural language are exhibited via bicompact linear logic and compact closed categorical structures in natural language.

Exploiting the common ground provided by vector spaces, the proposed workshop will bring together researchers working at the intersection of NLP, cognitive science, and physics, offering to them an appropriate forum for presenting their uniquely motivated work and ideas. The interplay between these three disciplines will foster theoretically motivated approaches to understanding how meanings of words interact with each other in sentences and discourse via grammatical types, how they are determined by input from the world, and how word and sentence meanings interact logically.

Topics of interest include (but are not restricted to):
Reasoning in semantic spaces
Compositionality in semantic spaces and conceptual spaces
Conceptual spaces in linguistics and natural language processing
Applications of quantum logic in natural language processing and cognitive science
Modelling functional words such as prepositions and relative pronouns in compositional distributional models of meaning
Diagrammatic reasoning for natural language processing and cognitive science
Modelling so-called ‘non-compositional’ phenomena such as metaphor

SPECIAL SESSION
We will have a special session on the relevance of formal grammar methods in deep learning and other statistical and vector space approaches to language. Examples of phenomena where these methods come into play include (but of course are not limited to) anaphora resolution, long-range filler-gap dependencies, function-argument relations, locality domains, and syntactic structures in general. This session is organised jointly with the Formal Grammar conference (http://fg.phil.hhu.de/2020/ <http://fg.phil.hhu.de/2020/>)

SUBMISSIONS:
There are *two separate routes* for submission: either to the Formal Grammar shared session or to the main SEMSPACE workshop.

Submission to the shared session with Formal Grammar should adhere to the submission guidelines at http://fg.phil.hhu.de/2020/#Submission_Details <http://fg.phil.hhu.de/2020/#Submission_Details>. Note that the deadline for the special session is 15th March 2020.

Submission to the main SEMSPACE workshop: Electronic submission of original contributions (up to 16 pages) of previously unpublished work. Submission of substantial, albeit partial results of work in progress is welcomed.

Extended abstracts (3 pages) of previously published work that is recent and relevant to the workshop. These should include a link to a separately published paper or preprint.

Contributions should be submitted at:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=semspace2020 <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=semspace2020>

A special issue of selected extended papers will be prepared following the workshop. Only original contributions will be considered for publication.

Please send any queries to semspace2020 at easychair.org <mailto:semspace2020 at easychair.org> 


IMPORTANT DATES:
Paper submission to shared session with Formal Grammar: 15th March 2020
Paper submission to SEMSPACE main workshop: 24th April 2020
Notification to contributors (SEMSPACE main workshop): 1st June 2020
Workshop dates: 8th-9th August 2020

SPEAKERS
TBC

PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
Bob Coecke, University of Oxford
Stefano Gogioso, University of Oxford
Giuseppe Greco, Utrecht University
Peter Gärdenfors, Lund University
Helle Hvid Hansen, Delft University of Technology
Jules Hedges, Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences
Peter Hines, University of York
Alexander Kurz, Chapman University
Antonio Lieto, University of Turin, Department of Computer Science
Dan Marsden, University of Oxford
Michael Moortgat, Utrecht University
Richard Moot, CNRS (LIRMM) & University of Montpellier
Dusko Pavlovic, University of Hawaii
Emmanuel Pothos, City University London
Matthew Purver, Queen Mary University of London
Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh, University College London
Giovanni Sileno, University of Amsterdam
Pawel Sobocinski, Tallinn University of Technology
Oriol Valentín, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Dominic Widdows, Grab 
Geraint Wiggins, Vrije Universiteit Brussel / Queen Mary University of London
Frank Zenker, Lund University

ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE
Martha Lewis, ILLC, University of Amsterdam
Michael Moortgat, Utrecht University
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