2020
December
Virtual Workshop on Formal/Philosophical/Computational Approaches to Natural Language Meaning
On December 4, 2020, the Center for Language Sciences hosted a Virtual Workshop on Formal/Philosophical/Computational Approaches to Natural Language Meaning.
The workshop was a bridge-building exercise between the relevant communities at the University of Rochester and Cornell University. The workshop presenters were from the linguistics and philosophy departments at Rochester and Cornell. In attendance were other members of these departments, as well of members from computer science at both institutions. The workshop was funded by a grant from the Central New York Humanities Corridor to Asudeh (Rochester), Kucerek (Cornell), and Rooth (Cornell).
09:45-10:30
Mats Rooth (Linguistics, Cornell)
Epistemic Semantics in Guarded String Models
10:30-11:15
Zeynep Soysal (Philosophy, Rochester)
Possible Worlds Semantics and Algorithmic Knowledge of Mathematics
11:15-12:00
Arc Kocurek and Carlotta Pavese (Philosophy, Cornell)
The Dynamics of Argumentative Discourse
12:00-13:30 BREAK
13:30-14:15
Arc Kocurek (Philosophy, Cornell)
Does Chance Undermine Would?
14:15-15:00
James Walsh (Philosophy, Cornell)
Counterconventional semantics
15:00-15:15 BREAK
15:15-16:00
Jon Ander Mendia (Linguistics, Cornell)
Generics, attitudes and exceptions
16:00-16:45
Ash Asudeh (Linguistics, Rochester)
A Satisficing Account of Conjunction Fallacies
November
Working Papers in Linguistics
We are excited to announce that a new issue, Volume 8 of the University of Rochester Working Papers in the Language Sciences has been published by MIT Working Papers in Linguistics. The new issue features papers from John Kyle Cooper and Sam Zhao, Leonor Teles and Olivia Huey, Nicholas Cimaszewski and Benjamin Richardson, Jiaxing Yu, Elizabeth Lee, and Megan Eichas. The papers highlight the research that is going on at CLS, including phonetics, morphology, and syntax, and using fieldwork, experimental, and quantitative methodologies. Volume 8 of URWPLS, edited by Peter Guekguezian, is available for puchase at MIT Working Papers in Linguistics. See our working papers page for more information.
September
Enriched Meanings: Natural Language Semantics with Category Theory
Ash Asudeh, professor of linguistics and director of the Center for Language Sciences at the University of Rochester, has a new book that just came out! “Enriched Meanings: Natural Language Semantics with Category Theory”, coauthored by Asudeh and Gianluca Giorgolo, develops a theory of enriched meanings for natural language interpretation that uses the concept of monads and related ideas from category theory, a branch of mathematics that has been influential in theoretical computer science and elsewhere. The volume contains insights from semantics, pragmatics, philosophy of language, psychology, and computer science, and will appeal to graduate students and researchers from a wide range of disciplines with an interest in natural language understanding and representation. For more information, visit www.tinyurl.com/asudehbook.
June
The Carney Lab announces new stand-alone, platform-independent GUI for UR-EAR (University of Rochester- Envisioning Auditory Response)
The acoustic signal is vastly different from the auditory signal. How does the auditory system represent speech sounds? This stand-alone, platform-independent GUI for UR-EAR (University of Rochester-Envisioning Auditory Response) provides visualizations of population responses of auditory-nerve (AN) and inferior colliculus (IC) model neurons.
Includes zip files of MATLAB source code and standalone executables for visualizing population response of auditory neurons.
May
Pietraszko—The coming apart of case and focus in Bantu
Linguistics faculty Asia Pietraszko’s paper The coming apart of case and focus in Bantu, has been accepted into the journal, Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, for publication.
Links: Prepublication draft
February
Postdoctoral Fellowship
The Center for Language Sciences at the University of Rochester is seeking an outstanding postdoctoral fellow. We encourage applicants who have expertise in any relevant area, including formal, computational, experimental, and social approaches to understanding the structure, processing, and use of natural language. We are particularly interested in postdoctoral fellows who want to contribute to an interdisciplinary community. View the postdoctoral fellowship description for more information.
January
Asudeh on Grammar and Meaning
Linguistics professor and CLS director Ash Asudeh has an article called Grammar and Meaning in the newly published Oxford Handbook of English Grammar.
Links: Prepublication draft | Book website