Computational Construction Grammar and Constructional Change

After several decades in scientific purgatory, language evolution has reclaimed its place as one of the most important branches in linguistics. This renewed interest is accompanied by powerful new methods for making empirical observations. At the same time, construction grammar is increasingly embraced in all areas of linguistics as a fruitful way of making sense of all these new data, and it has enthused formal and computational linguists, who have developed sophisticated tools for exploring issues in language processing and learning. The Belgian Journal of Linguistics therefore features a special issue that brings together key contributions from both fields to put evidence and methods from both perspectives on the table. To celebrate the publication of this special issue, the Evolutionary Linguistics Association and the Linguistic Society of Belgium are proud to invite you for two keynote presentations about the issue's main topics, and a festive reception where there is plenty of room for discussion.

Program

16h00-16h10 Welcome by the issue's guest editors
Katrien Beuls (VUB AI Lab)
Remi van Trijp (Sony CSL Paris)
16h10-16h50 The Future of (Computational) Construction Grammar Looks Bright
Luc Steels (VUB AI Lab)
16h50-17h30 Diachronic Construction Grammar and its Challenges
Jóhanna Barðdal (University of Ghent)
17h30 Reception

Venue

Royal Library of Belgium, Royal Sky Room
You can find instructions for getting to the venue by clicking on this link.

Sponsors

Evolutionary Linguistics Association

Linguistic Society of Belgium