Computational Approaches to Discourse and Document Processing
SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL “TRAITEMENT AUTOMATIQUE DES LANGUES” (TAL)
Deadline for submission: 1st September 2006
GUEST EDITORS: Marie-Paule Péry-Woodley (ERSS - Université de Toulouse
2, France) and Donia Scott (Open University, UK)
SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS
This special issue of TAL is devoted to what we perceive as an
increasing convergence between discourse linguistics, document
engineering and NLP. Such a convergence can be observed from several
angles; for example, new modes of access to documents' contents place
greater emphasis on exploiting discourse structure; applying corpus
analysis methods to discourse calls for greater use of NLP techniques.
It is manifest in the increasing number of joint studies, and results in
cross fertilisation of the disciplines.
* Text and discourse linguistics
Constructing a coherent interpretation of discourse involves delimiting
segments, and identifying semantico-pragmatic relations and structures
that bind them. These processes may be approached via the notions of
discourse relations (cf. RST, SDRT), of theme or topic, of discourse
framing, etc. A major challenge for the field is to identify linguistic
correlates of specific discourse functions in text corpora, taking into
account potential register- and domain-linked variation. Another
promising research area focuses on the global structure of documents:
role of titles, “logical structure”, or layout, to name a few.
* Document engineering and NLP
Access to the information stored in electronic documents is a major
issue, and recent approaches seek to take better account of the
organisation of the documents being processed – such as their thematic
and rhetorical structure. A growing number of applications are concerned
by this evolution: automatic summarisation, document browsing,
information retrieval (e.g. for passage extraction from selected
documents). In addition, hypertextual and composite documents raise new
questions about the interaction between semiotic functions (text-image
for instance).
For this special issue of TAL, we invite papers from researchers working
in the fields of discourse linguistics, computational linguistics and
document engineering on what can be termed the “document level”, whereby:
– the document is envisaged as a functional unit, situated in a specific
setting, and actualised in a medium (whatever its nature) which confers
on it material characteristics which are an integral part of the use and
sense made of it;
– the expression “document level” signals a marked interest in coarse
grain structures, or “global” structures (so-called “logical” structure,
document structure, organisation in sections…), or in the interaction
between local and global structures (reference chains, topical chains,
inter-propositional relations, etc.). It indicates a specific interest
in “top down” approaches based on the exploitation of surface cues or
markers.
Specific topics include (non-exhaustive list):
- Analysis of discourse structures;
- Analysis of the structure of composite documents (text-images,
text-graphics);
- Impact of hypertextual or hyperdocument organisation on the way
documents are produced and understood. Hypertext formatting,
computational tools based on NLP procedures;
- Reading models, discourse organisation models;
- Computational experimentation as a means of testing hypotheses on corpora;
- Preliminary corpus studies: identification and annotation of discourse
structures;
- Computational devices for such experimental approaches (formalising
linguistic knowledge, ensuring re-usability of resources, articulating
levels of processing, visualising annotations);
- Articulating approaches using linguistic markers, domain knowledge,
statistical techniques;
- Applications: intra-document information retrieval, browsing aids,
document summarisation or synthesis, etc.
THE JOURNAL
(see http://www.atala.org/)
TAL (Traitement Automatique des Langues/Natural Language Processing) is
a forty year old international journal edited by ATALA (French
Association for Natural Language Processing) with the support of CNRS
(National Centre for Scientific Research).
It is now moving over to an electronic mode of publication, with
printing on demand. This will in no way affect the reviewing and
selection process.
LANGUAGE
Manuscripts may be submitted in English or French. French-speaking
authors are requested to submit in French.
IMPORTANT DATES
01/09/2006 Deadline for submission
23/10/2006 Notification to authors
30/11/2006 Deadline for submission of revised version
PAPER SUBMISSION
Contributions (25 pages maximum, PDF format) will be sent by e-mail to
both editors at the addresses below:
Marie-Paule Péry-Woodley <pery@univ-tlse2.fr>
Donia Scott < D.Scott@open.ac.uk>
Style sheets are available for download at http://tal.e-revues.com/appel.jsp
SPECIAL EDITORIAL BOARD
N. Asher (IRIT, U. Toulouse 3, France)
J. Bateman (U. Bremen, Germany)
Y. Bestgen (U. C. Louvain, Belgium)
N. Bouayad-Agha (U. Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain)
M. Charolles (U. Paris 3, France)
D. Cristea (U. Iasi, Romania)
L. Danlos (U. Paris 7, France)
L. Degand (U. C. Louvain, Belgium)
P. Enjalbert (U. Caen, France)
S. Ferrari (U. Caen, France)
B. Grau (U. Paris-Sud, France)
N. Hernandez (GREYC, U. Caen, France)
J. Karlgren (Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Sweden)
G. Lapalme (U. Montréal, Québec, Canada)
N. Lucas (GREYC, U. Caen, France)
A. Max (U. Paris-Sud, France)
J.-L. Minel (U. Paris 4, France)
R. Power (Open University, England)
H. Saggion (U. Sheffield, England)
S. Teufel (U. Cambridge, England)
--Marie-Paule Péry-Woodley
ERSS (UMR 5610) CNRS & Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail Maison de la Recherche. F-31058 Toulouse cedex 9 Tél. (+33) 561-50-36-09(-46 76) Fax (+33) 561-50-46-77(-42 12) email : pery@univ-tlse2.fr http://www.univ-tlse2.fr/erss/
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