Get Fluid Construction Grammar !

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download-fcg-2

Fluid Construction Grammar can be downloaded as part of the Babel 2 software package. Babel 2 is a general cognitive framework that connects FCG with language technologies for conceptualization and interpretation, and with mechanisms for cognitive processing, learning, multi-agent interactions, and robotic embodiment. For more information on downloading Babel 2, click here !

As of 2015, a new notation for FCG has been introduced. The details and a few examples can be found in the article ‘Basics of Fluid Construction Grammar’ by Luc Steels, to appear in Constructions and Frames. You can download a draft of the article here. A web demonstration that supports the article is available too.

Successful AAAI Symposium

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All the participants of the AAAI Spring Symposium on computational construction grammar and natural language understanding.

Computational construction grammar has really taken flight since the 2017 AAAI Spring Symposium on Computational Construction Grammar and Natural Language Understanding in Stanford. Fluid Construction Grammar was of course well represented, and we want to highlight the following contributions:

Practical Course: Deep Language Processing using Construction Grammars

Paul Van Eecke

We are organising a two-day (6h) practical course on Fluid Construction Grammar. The course is part of the Interdisciplinary College (IK) Spring School in Günne, Germany and takes place on 15-16 March 2017.

For more information, see the following website: www.fcg-net.org/workshops/ik-construction-grammar

Course Description:

Construction Grammar is an innovative approach to language that focuses strongly on semantics, cognitive processes and learning. As such, it has the potential to lead to more powerful language technologies and more comprehensive accounts of language processing than psychology and computational linguistics are able to offer today. This course will teach its participants how the key concepts of construction grammar can be implemented in computational models for deep language processing that are capable of both comprehension and formulation. Moreover, students will also learn how to implement learning operators for more robust processing, and how to evaluate their grammars. Each session will take the form of a hands-on atelier using Fluid Construction Grammar (FCG), an advanced computational platform for developing constructional processing and learning models.

BJL launch event

Katrien Beuls

We are proud to announce the 30th issue of the Belgian Journal of Linguistics on Computational Construction Grammar and Constructional Change. Please join us for two keynotes and a festive reception on Monday 19 December 2016, at 4pm, in the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels.

More information on the program and the registration (free but mandatory) can be found on the event’s webpage.

FCG demo at SONY CSL Paris

Michael Anslow

As part of the SONY CSL Paris open day on October 27th, we will be demonstrating the latest features and applications of Fluid Construction Grammar. In particular, we are proud to debut two important new developments in FCG. Firstly, FCG Interactive, a web application that gives you the power of FCG from your own web browser, is live and in its beta release. Secondly, our first large scale English grammar, developed by Remi Van Trijp, will be available on FCG Interactive. On the FCG application side of things, we will demonstrate how FCG can be used to solve challenging English-Japanese machine translation. This takes the form of a live, multi-lingual, chat room translation demo.
The ‘Constructional Language Processing’ and ‘Participative multi-user multi-language chat room’ demos will be running from 15:00 – 20:00. Registration is free and the event is open to everyone, so please do come along.

The full programme of events is available here:

http://csl.sony.fr/openhouse2016/index-en.html

AAAI Spring Symposium, Stanford 27-29 March 2017

Katrien Beuls

Computational Construction Grammar and Natural Language Understanding

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

This symposium is primarily targeting researchers in natural language processing/understanding and computational linguistics, but will have broader appeal to the larger AI community, specifically researchers in knowledge representation, man-machine interaction, and machine learning. The symposium focuses on recent TECHNICAL advances in computational formalisms for construction grammar, machine learning of construction grammar, and use of construction grammar in natural language understanding and production. The presentation and demonstration of working systems is highly encouraged.

Areas of interest include:

1. What unifies constructional approaches to language?

2. Formalisms and implementations of construction grammar (CxG)

3. Constructicons, corpora annotated for CxG, and statistical construction learning.

4. Construction grammar learning by physical robots.

5. Deep Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and Production.

6. Relations of CxG to the brain, development, and evolution.

7. Application efforts.

Paper submissions may take the form of long papers (4-8 pages in AAAI format, including references) for oral presentation or short papers (up to 4 pages in AAAI format, including references) for poster presentation. Evidence of a working implementation, e.g. through a web-accessible demonstration, is highly encouraged. Individual submissions for oral or short papers are due by OCTOBER 28 and authors will be notified by November 29. There will be one or more hands-on interactive sessions where participants can show implemented CxG systems.

Suggestions for panels may be submitted by October 1 to either steels@arti.vub.ac.be or feldman@icsi.berkeley.edu

All papers for the symposium will be collected and made into an AAAI technical report, which will be distributed to attendees electronically and included in the AAAI Digital Library.

Symposium conveners: Jerome Feldman and Luc Steels

Additional members of program committee: Katrien Beuls, Adele Goldberg and Nancy Chang.

More information: https://ai.vub.ac.be/aaai-construction-grammar-2017/

Internship: computational linguist / grammar engineer

Katrien Beuls

Internship: computational linguist / grammar engineer

Duration: 6 months

Starting date: immediately

Description: Sony Computer Science Laboratory Paris is a small but booming research cell in the center of Paris (France). It currently offers an internship of 6 months in its language team. During the internship, you will develop a basic grammar for Japanese and integrate the grammar within an existing Machine Translation application for Japanese-English and English-Japanese. As part of the internship, you will receive formation in the language technologies developed at Sony CSL Paris, including a.o. Fluid Construction Grammar (www.fcg-net.org). You will receive a renumeration for your internship that complies to French legislation and Sony’s staff agreements. Sony is an equal opportunity employer and encourages anyone with the right qualifications to apply (requested background: Master student in computer science, computational linguistics, artificial intelligence or equivalent). Please send your resume and motivation letter to Dr Remi van Trijp (remi@csl.sony.fr).

BKL-CBL conference

miquel

Katrien Beuls and Remi van Trijp organize the annual BKL-CBL conference 2015 that will take place at the VUB the 8th of June. The topic of the conference is Computational Construction Grammar and Constructional change. Confirmed speakers include Graeme Trousdale, Luc Steels, Kristin Davidse, Peter Petré and Arie Verhagen.

Apart from the main conference, a tutorial on Fluid Construction Grammar will take place on the 7th and 9th of june.

Both conference and tutorial are free of charge.

You can find the details of the BKL-CBL conference and the tutorial on Fluid Construction Grammar on this link.