Aims and scope

Formal Language Theory was born in the middle of 20th century as a tool for modelling and investigating syntax of natural languages. After 1964, formal language theory developed as a separate branch with specific problems, techniques and results and with an internal self-motivated life. So, formal languages, which started being a tool to be applied to natural languages, became rapidly a theory that studied formal systems independently of possible linguistic applications. On the other hand, classical formal language theory, due to its abstract and formal properties, has been applied to a wide range of fields (besides initial linguistic motivation): economic modelling, developmental biology, cryptography, sociology... Non classical models of formal languages present the same abstractness that has facilitate the application of classical models to many issues, and, in addition, present, several advantageous features: natural inspiration, parallelism, distribution, cooperation, etc. Therefore, recently many researchers claim that application of non-classical models of formal languages can provide approaches to linguistics that can improve the description, analysis and processing of natural languages. In fact, the aim of this workshop is to discuss the possible applications of non-classical formal languages in linguistics.
The aim of this workshop is to bring together researchers from different areas that have in common the use of formal language theory to approach different aspects of natural language.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

Mathematical Linguistics

Linguistic Applications of Formal Languages

Formal Analysis of Linguistic Theories and Frameworks

Model-Theoretic and Proof-Theoretic Methods in Linguistics

Probabilistic and Statistical Models of Language

Linguistic Applications of FSA

Logics and Language



Submissions

Submissions will be done by the IWANN submission procedure.

Pubication

Accepted papers will be published, as any other IWANN contribution, by Springer-Verlag on Lecture Notes on Computer Science (LNCS) series, and the books will be available on-site.

Important dates

Submission deadline:January 30, 2009

Notification of acceptance: February 27, 2009

Final version due: March 16, 2009



Organizers

Gemma Bel-Enguix, GRLMC

M. Dolores Jiménez-López, GRLMC



Programme Committee

Gemma Bel-Enguix (Rovira Virgili University, Tarragona)

Henning Christiansen (Roskilde University)

Erzsébet Csuhaj-Varjú (MTA SZTAKI, Budapest)

Veronica Dahl (Simon Fraser, Burnaby)

Jürgen Dassow (Magdeburg)

M. Dolores Jiménez-López (Rovira Virgili, Tarragona)

Manfred Kudlek (Hamburg)

Carlos Martín-Vide (Brussels)

Victor Mitrana (University of Bucharest)

Carl Pollard (Ohio State University, Columbus)

Reinhard Rapp (Rovira Virgili, Tarragona)

György Vaszil (MTA SZTAKI, Budapest)



Additionaly, the organization will assign special reviewers for every paper. Contact

Gemma Bel-Enguix: gemma.bel@urv.cat

M. Dolores Jiménez-López: mariadolores.jimenez@urv.cat