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CSLI Calendar, 1 March, vol. 5:19


       C S L I   C A L E N D A R   O F   P U B L I C   E V E N T S
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1 March 1990                     Stanford                      Vol. 5, No. 19
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    A weekly publication of the Center for the Study of Language and
Information (CSLI), Ventura Hall, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4115
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	   CSLI ACTIVITIES FOR THIS THURSDAY, 1 MARCH 1990

12:00 noon		TINLunch
      Cordura 100	Reading: Underspecification in Phonetics
			by Patricia Keating
			Discussion led by Bill Poser
			(poser@csli.stanford.edu)
			Abstract in last week's Calendar

 2:15 p.m.		CSLI Seminar
      Cordura 100	Constructive Conceptual Analysis
			Jens Allwood
			Department of Linguistics
			University of Goteborg, Sweden
			Abstract below

	   CSLI ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT THURSDAY, 8 MARCH 1990

12:00 noon		TINLunch
      Cordura 100	Reading: Natural Language and Natural Selection
			by Steven Pinker and Paul Bloom
			Discussion led by Paul Kiparsky
			(kiparsky@csli.stanford.edu)
			Abstract below
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		       THIS WEEK'S CSLI SEMINAR
		   Constructive Conceptual Analysis
			     Jens Allwood

The talk presents a nonplatonic approach to "conceptual analysis."
Concepts are claimed to be functional (goal, purpose) related
structurings of information that are normatively modifiable.  In the
talk, an outline is given of a method for constructive conceptual
determination developed in Allwood 1989.  The method consists in the
combination of "a priori" guidelines for conceptual analysis with
various empirical methods for gathering relevant information.  An
overview is given of both guidelines and methods.

The combination of guidelines and methods results in a type of concept
determination that combines a "semantic field" approach (the same
informational base, several expressions) with a "meaning potential"
approach (one expression, several determinations of meaning).
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			 NEXT WEEK'S TINLUNCH
	   Reading: Natural Language and Natural Selection
		   by Steven Pinker and Paul Bloom
		   Discussion led by Paul Kiparsky

Pinker and Bloom argue, contra Chomsky and Gould, that the evolution
of the human-language faculty can be explained by neo-Darwinian
natural selection.  One issue at stake in this debate is to what
extent the design of language is arbitrary rather than derivable
from communicative/cognitive function.
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		 SEMINAR ON ISSUES IN LOGICAL THEORY
			    Philosophy 396
	     Interplay of Proof Theory and Constructivist
		    Ideology in the USSR, 1950-70
			    Grigori Mints
		       Institute of Cybernetics
			   Tallinn, Estonia
		     Thursday, 1 March, 3:45 p.m.
			     Cordura 100

The whole picture of the post-war development of mathematical logic in
the USSR was influenced by the birth and active development of the
Russian school of constructive mathematics.  This talk will review
some results obtained then, but insufficiently known in the West, as
well as the influence of the ideology on topics of research, methods
of research, and the researchers themselves.

Note that this topic is different from the one announced before.  Next
week: Jeff Pelletier on Mass Expressions.
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			SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FORUM
		    Time Points or Time Intervals?
		Problems in Axiomatizing Common Sense
			      Pat Hayes
	    Xerox PARC and Department of Computer Science
			 (hayes.pa@xerox.com)
		     Thursday, 1 March, 4:15 p.m.
			Building 60, Room 61G
         
When we think about time, do we think of it as consisting of a
sequence of clock-times, or as consisting of intervals of time during
which things happen?  In trying to formalize these perspectives so
that we can make a machine imitate our thinking, we find that
apparently simple axioms have unforeseen, unintuitive consequences.
This talk is an informal review of the history of trying to get a
clear, consistent description of time, and the pitfalls we meet along
the way.
                 
Next week: Susan Stucky, Institute for Research on Learning.  Title:
The Radically Efficient Agent in Context.
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	     ANNUAL MEETING OF THE WEST COAST CONFERENCE
			ON FORMAL LINGUISTICS
			 Stanford University
		  Friday, 2 March - Sunday, 4 March

The 9th Annual Meeting of the West Coast Conference on Formal
Linguistics (WCCFL) will be held at Stanford University, hosted by the
Department of Linguistics, and coordinated by Peter Sells.  

WCCFL was founded at Stanford in 1982.  This year, forty-two papers on
all aspects of formal linguistics will be presented.  There will be
speakers from all over the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe, as well
as five speakers from the Stanford community.  Meetings will be held
at CSLI during Friday, 2 March, and in Jordan Hall during Saturday and
Sunday, 3 and 4 March.

The schedule for the conference is readable online in
/user/wccfl/schedule; for registration information, and so on, please
send mail to wccfl@csli.stanford.edu (registration fees for the
Stanford community are $10 for students and $15 for nonstudents).
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  		   PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM
		  Interactions between Language and
			Cognition in Toddlers
			    Alison Gopnik
		  University of California, Berkeley
		    Wednesday, 7 March, 3:45 p.m.
			Building 420, Room 050

No abstract available.
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