Lesser Used Languages and Computer Linguistics (LULCL) II
"Combining efforts to foster computational support of minority languages"

Following up on the "Lesser Used Languages and Computer Linguistics (LULCL)" conference in 2005, the Institute for Specialised Communication and Multilingualism at the European Academy Bozen/Bolzano is pleased to announce a second scientific meeting on computational approaches for lesser used, lesser standardised and lesser resourced languages. 
LULCL II will take place the 13th and 14th of November 2008 at the European Academy Bozen/Bolzano. The aim of the colloquium is to provide an overview of ongoing research activities and to strengthen the research community and its practices.

This year's LULCL colloquium puts a special focus on bringing together efforts from several related research communities, in order to join best practices, approaches and techniques and to add value to individual initiatives. In addition to lesser used languages, other types of language, including language varieties, sign languages, learner language and spoken language, pose similar issues for researchers, having to do with sparse resources, little standardisation, and challenges with automatic processing and building up of computational resources.

The colloquium will provide an opportunity to learn what tasks are analogous and shared among the different research communities, what practices and resources could be exchanged and generally how the groups could gain from working together and how they can bring forward lesser used languages.

The research communities of interest for this colloquium are:
• Lesser used / minority languages
• Language varieties
• Sign languages
• Learner languages
• Spoken language

During the two-day event invited researchers of each field will present ongoing research activities by pointing out challenges inherent to the automatic processing of a particular lesser resourced / lesser standardised language and relating it to the broader picture of working with lesser resourced / lesser standardised languages in general. The emerging dialogue should give particular consideration to smaller projects and thus help them to disseminate their objectives and to enter the international research community.

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Keynote Speakers:
Karin Aijmer, Göteborg University, Sweden
Dafydd Gibbon, Bielefeld University, Germany

Scientific Committee:
Andrea Abel, European Academy Bozen/Bolzano, Italy
Stefanie Anstein, European Academy Bozen/Bolzano, Italy
Christopher Culy, European Academy Bozen/Bolzano, Italy
Dafydd Gibbon, Bielefeld University, Germany
Christer Laurén, Vaasa University, Finland
Marcello Soffritti, University of Bologna / European Academy Bozen/Bolzano, Italy
Chiara Vettori, European Academy Bozen/Bolzano, Italy
Paul Videsott, Free University of Bozen/Bolzano, Italy

Contact:
Institute for Specialised Communication and Multilingualism, European Academy Bozen/Bolzano
Viale Druso 1, 39100 Bozen/Bolzano
Organiser: Verena Lyding
Email: communication.multilingualism@eurac.edu
Tel: 0471-055127
Fax: 0471-055199
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The initiative is co-financed by the "Autonome Region Trentino-Südtirol / Regione Autonoma Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Abteilung III Sprachminderheiten und Europäische Integration / Ripartizione III - Minoranze linguistiche ed integrazione europea, Amt für Sprachminderheiten / Ufficio per le minoranze linguistiche".

last update 18.11.2008