Antonio ZAMPOLLI, Chairman of the Programme Committee 
The scientific programme of COLING-92 
In my capacity as Chairman of the Scientific Programme 
Committee of COLING-92, I wish to express my 
gratitude to all my colleagues who have conributed to 
the reading and selection of about 420 papers submitted 
for COLING-92. The work of the Programme 
Committee has been organized at two levels. In 
consultation with the members of the Intermltional 
Committee on Computational Linguistics, I have 
identified nine major areas of interest, and fro" each area I 
have appointed a coordinator. Each of the nine 
coordinators, whieb together formed the Programme 
Committee, has set up a subcommittee, selecting a 
number of reviewers. 
The task of the coordinator was to distribute tbe papers 
to the reviewers, to collect and summarize their 
evaluations, and to express an overall recommendation: 
to accept a paper as topical, to accept the paper as a 
project note, or to reject the paper. I have always 
followed the recommendations of the coordinators. The 
tew papers which, in each area, were classified as 
"uncertain", i.e. left without a specific recommendation, 
were ranked in descending order of acceptability by the 
coordinator. In these cases, I have used the following 
criteria for acceptance: i) within each area, the ranking of 
the coordinator has been respected, ii) across areas, 
preference has been given to papers accompanied by a 
demonstration, and to topics less represented in the 
overall programme. 
1 also wish to express my appreciation to my colleagues 
N Calzolari, A. Capelli, P. Orsolini, and S. Rossi of 
the Istituto di Linguistica Computazionate of the CNR 
of Pisa for their generous support in the task of 
classifying and distributing the papers, collecting the 
judgements, and setting file final programme. 
My deepest gratitude must go to Ch. Boitet and 
F. Peccond for their contribution to the work of the 
Programme Committee, and for tile enthusiasm and the 
energy they have given in organizing the Conlerence. 1 
can fully appreciate the quantity of work required lot file 
organizatitm of a COLING Conference, since I have 
already been involved in the organization of the 
Conference twice before: in 1978 (Bergen) as Chairman 
of the Progr;nnme COlnlnittee, and in 1973 (Pisa) as 
local organizer. 
Recollecting these two COLING Conlk~'rences, two 
ctmsiderations regarding developments in our field come 
to mind. In my Introduction to tile proceedings of 
COLING-73 (A. Zampolli, N. Calzolari, eds., 
Computational and Mathematical Linguistics, Firenze, 
1977, 4 vohunes), I advocated the complementarity 
between tile then dominant "puristic" approach to 
computational linguistics (represented, for example, in 
the Foreword of t lans Karlgren to the same Proceedings), 
focusing oil computation and on file derivation of results 
according to rules, and a more "pragmatic" approach, 
focusing on practical, applicable results and on the 
ability to process large collections of real linguistic data. 
In particular, I stressed tile need to promote corpus-based 
studies, statistical methods, robust morphosyntactic 
tuggers and parsers, adequate large machine dictionaries, 
cooperation with descriptive linguists, lexicographers, 
humanists using computers, etc. Today, particularly due 
to the pressing requests of the "language industry" sector 
for robust NLP components capable of dealing with real 
language uses, tile process of convergence between the 
two approaches is underway, and can be recognized as a 
major feature characterizing the present stage of 
development. 
Programmes and actions promoted by the major 
international and national Funding Agencies have been 
of paramount importance in shaping the evolution of our 
field in this direction. The Commission of the European 
Communities began to promote large scale activities in 
natural language processing more or less around the time 
of the Bergen COLING Conference in 1978. I still 
rmnember the endless conversations and discussions 
taking place during the Conference cruise along the 
magnificent Norwegian fjords, stimulated by the 
rnmours that the Commission intended to launch 
programmes in machine translation and documentation. 
The role and influence of the Funding Agencies has, 
since then, dramatically increased. Furtbermore, to 
respond to the pressing needs of our multilingual society 
in producing, distributing, accessing, and retrieving 
inlormation encoded in natural language, international 
cooperation is crucial. Specifically, common policies, 
adequate linguistic infrastructures, standards for resources 
and product development must be established if we want 
an effective language technology and a real language 
industry. 
For these reasons, we felt it was appropriate to organize, 
for the first time wthin COLING, a panel of tile 
representatives from European (CEC, EUREKA), 
American (DARPA, NSF) and Japanese Funding 
Agencies to discuss needs, priorities, policies, and 
perspectives, and to set up a session dedicated to the 
presentation of representative large-scale, publicly funded 
projects. The global amount of resonrces made available 
to natural language processing activities and the 
awareness of the stategic relevance of possible industrial 
applications has increased in the last few years. 
We have arrived at a very crucial stage: interest in our 
fiekl and the anticipation of wdid results are great. We 
must carefully evaluate he state-of-the-art in relatioa to 
the various tasks and applications, identify priorities in 
research and development, and seriously promote the 
integration of various approaches. We hope that this 
COLING will provide a significant contribution towards 
these goals. 
Pisa, May llth, 1992. 
A~:n'gs DE COLING-92. Nnh'rlis, 23-28 AoL'r 1992 6 PROC. OF COLING-92, NAN'IES, AUG. 23-28, 1992 
Relecteurs R e vie w e rs 
Committee la 
(phonology, morphology, syntax) 
Coordinator 
Coordinateur 
Hans Uszkoreit, Univ.of Saarbriicken 
Reviewers 
Lecteurs 
Anne Abcilld, Univ. Paris "/ 
Bran Buguraev, 1BM Yorktown Heights 
Steven Bird, Univ. of Ediilburgh 
Gosse Boulna, Univ. Groningen 
Bob Carpenter, Carnegy Mellon Univ. 
Larlri Carlson, Univ. of Helsinki 
Martin Emele, Univ. Stuttgart 
Alex Franz, CMU, Pittsburgh 
Sebastian Millies, Univ. Saarbrucken 
David Milward, Univ. Edinburgh 
Klaus Netter, DFK\[ Saarbrucken 
Kurel Oliva, Univ. Saarbrucken 
Steve Puhnan, SRI Cambridge 
Michael Rosner, IDSIA Lugano 
Hzu'ald Trost, Univ. Wien 
Gertjan van Noord, Univ. Grouingen 
Nino Varile, CEC Luxelnburg 
Meg Withgott, XEROX PAP, C 
Henk Zeevat, Univ. of Amsterdam 
Committee lb 
(semantics & pragmatics) 
Coordinator 
Coordinatenr 
Eva llajicova, Charles Univ. (Prague) 
Reviewers 
Lecteurs 
Diane Litman, Columbia University (NY) 
Bonnie Lynn Webber, University of Pennsylvania 
Wolfgang Wahlsler, DFKI (S~mrbruecken) 
Jens Erik Fen~lad, University of Oslo 
Pctr Sgall, Charles University (Prague) 
Comnlittee lc 
(dialogue and discourse) 
Coordinator 
Coordinateur 
Candy Siduer, Carol)ridge Resem'ch Lab (DEC) 
Reviewers 
Lecteurs 
DoughLs Appelt, SRl-lnternational 
Jim Barnett, MCC 
Mario Bnrillo, IRIT/CNRS 
Susan Brennau, Univ of New York at Stony Brook 
Sandee Carberty, Univ of Delaware 
Robert Dale, Univ. of Edinburgh 
Brad Goodman, Milre Corp. 
Julia Hirschberg, AT&T Bell Labs 
Graeme Hirst, Univ of Toronto 
Diane tlorton, Univ of Toronto 
Ed i\[ovy, 1S1 (Univ. of S. Cal) 
lnderjcct Mani, MCC 
Megumi Kaliicyaula, SRl-lnternational 
Alex Lascarides, Univ. of Edinburgh 
Diane Litman, Columbia Univ. 
Susann Luperfoy, Milre Corp. 
Kathy McCoy, Univ. of Delaware 
Johanna Moore, Univ. of Pitlsburgh 
Jon Oberlander, Univ. of Edinburgh 
Cecile Paris, ISI (Univ. of S. Cal) 
\[lecky Passoneau, Columbia Univ. 
Ehnd Reiter, Univ of Edinburgh 
Elaine Rich, MCC 
Gregory W~u'd, Northwestern Univ. 
Bonnie Webber, Univ of Pennsylvania 
Ursula Wok, Trenton State College 
ACIICS Dl:: COLING 92, NAhqI~S, 23-28 Aoi-rl 1992 7 Pi~oc:, OF COIAN{;-92, NAN rrs. AUG. 23-28, 1992 
Committee 2 
(computational methods) 
Coordinator / Coordinateur 
Mark Liberman, Univ of Pennsylvania 
Reviewers / Lecteurs 
Robert C. Berwick, MIT AI Laboratory 
Michael Brant, Johns Hopkins University 
Peter F. Brown, IBM - 'I'.J. Watson 
Ken Church, Bell Laboratories 
Ralph Grishman, New York University 
Per-Kristian Halvorsen, Xerox PARC 
Paul S. Jacobs, General Electric Corp. R&D 
Aravind Joshi, University of Pennsylvania 
Judith Klavans, IBM T.J.Watson Research 
Mitch Marcus, University of Pennsylvania 
Sergei Nirenburg, C~mgie Mellon University 
James Pastejovsky, Brandeis University 
Michael D. Riley, AT&T Bell Laboratories 
Yves Schabes, University of Pennsylvania 
Richard Sproat, AT&T Bell Laboratories 
Mark Steedman, University of Pennsylvania 
Committee 3 
(Tools) 
Coordinator / Coordinateur 
Martin Kay, Xerox Parc 
Reviewers / Lecteurs 
John Maxwell, Xerox PARC 
Hadar Shemtov, Stanford University 
Committee 4 
(Large-Scale resources) 
Coordinator / Coordinateur 
Don Walker, AT&T Bell Labs 
Reviewers / Lecteurs 
Thomas Ahlswede, Central Michigan University 
Hiyan Alshawi, SRI International Cambridge 
Shinya Amano, Toshiba R&D Center 
Bran Boguraev, IBM T.J.Watson Resezu'ch Center 
Mario Borillo, IRIT Univcrsite Paul Sahuticr 
Edward J. Briscoe, Cambridge University 
Roy J. Byrd, IBM TJ Watson Research Center 
Nicoletta Calzolari, ILC (Pisa) 
A. W. Cater, University College Dublin 
Yaacov Choueka, Bar-Ilan University 
Kenneth W. Church, AT&T Bell LaN)ratories 
Martha W. Evens, llinois Institute of Technology 
William A. Gale, AT&T Bell Laboratories 
Gerald Gazdar, University of Sussex 
Cheng-Ming Guo, University College Dublin 
Louise Gutbrie, New Mexico State University 
Karin Haenelt, GMD (Darmstadt) 
Eva Hajicova, Charles Univ. (Prague) 
Ulrich Held, Universitaet S tuttgart 
Peter Hellwig, Universilaet Heidelberg 
Donakl M. Hindle, Greenwich (NJ) 
Nancy M. Ida, Vassar College 
Robert J. P. Ingria, BBN Systems & Technologies 
Paul S. Jacobs, General Electric Corporate R&D 
Karen Jansen, Microsoft corp. 
Judith Klavans, IBM TJ Watson Research Center 
Karen Kukich, Bellcore 
Thomas Landauer, Bellcore 
Winfried Lenders, Universitact Bonn 
Willy Martin, Free University Amsterdam 
John McNaught, UMIST (Manchester) 
Willem Meijs, Amsterdam University 
Alan K. Melby, BYU (Prow~, UT) 
Makoto Nagao, Kyoto University 
Mary S. Neff, IBM TJ Watson Research Center 
Sergei Nirenburg, Carnegie Mellon University 
James Pustejovsky, Brandeis University 
Graeme D. Ritchie, University of Edinburgh 
Salim Roukos, IBM TJ Watson Research Center 
Graham Russell, ISSCO (Geneva) 
Michael Sherwood-Smith, University College Dublin 
Stuart M. Shicber, Harvard University 
Frank A. Smadja, Columbia University 
Richard Sproat, AT&T Bell Laboratories 
Hiroyuki Suzuki, Matsushita (Tokyo Laboratory) 
Hideki 'Farina, NHK So. & Techn. Research Labs 
SyLm Tutiya, Chiba University 
Paola Velardi, Univcrsita di Ancona 
Jeau Veronis, Vassar College 
Pick Vosscn, Amsterdam 
Bonnie Lym~ Wehtx~r, University of Pennsylvania 
Yorick A. Wilks, New Mexico State University 
Sho Yoshida, Kyushu Institute of Technology 
Annie Zacnen, Xerox PARC (Palo Alto) 
Uri Zernik, GE-CRD 
AcrEs DE COLING-92, NA/'CrES, 23-28 Ao(rr 1992 8 PROC. oi: COLING-92, NANTES, AUG. 23-28, 1992 
Committee 5 Applications) 
Coordinator 
Coordinateur 
Makoto Nagao, Kyoto University 
Reviewers 
Lecteurs 
Winfield Scott Bennett, LRC (Siemens, Austin) 
Louis Des Tombe, R1LS (Utrecht) 
Bonnie J. Dorr, University of Maryhmd 
Arnold Douglas, University of Essex 
Ralph Grishman, New-York University 
Kooiti Ilashida, ICOT 
Hitoshi Iida, ATR Inteq)reting Telephony 
Pierre lsabellc, CCRIT/CWARC (Montreal) 
Yasohiro Kamgiri, NqT Basic Research Labs 
Richard Kittredge, University of Montreal 
Kiyoshi Kogare, NTT Basic Research Labs 
Yuji Matsumoto, Kyoto University 
Michael McCord, IBM T.J. Watson Reserach Center 
Jtm-ichi Nakamura, Kyushu Institute of Technology 
Sergei Nirenburg, Carnegie Mellon University 
Yoshihiko Nitla, Ilitachi Basic Research Labs 
Naoyoki Okada, Kyushu institute of Technology 
Elaine Rich, MCC 
Christian Rohrer, Ulfiversitaet Stuttgart 
Satoshi Sato, Kyoto University 
Robert F. Simmmons, University of Texas at Austin 
Harry L. Somers, CCL (UMIST, Manchester) 
Hozumi Tanaka, Tokyo Institute of Technology 
Masaru Tomita, Carnegie Mellon University 
Jun-ichi Tstljii, CCL (UMIST. Manchester) 
Peter Wallis, CITRI (Carlton, Australia) 
Susan Warwick, ISSCO (Geneva) 
Committee 6 
(NLP & hypermedia) 
Coordinator 
Coordinateur 
Stephen G. Pulman, SRI Cambridge 
Reviewers 
Lecteurs 
Iliyan Alshawi, SRI Canlbridge 
Arnold Smith, SRI Cambridge 
Ted Briscoe, Cambridge University 
Manny P, ayner, SRI Cambridge 
Karen Sparck Jones, Cambridge University 
Steve Young. Cambridge University 
Nick Youd, Logica Cambridge 
Ewan Kiein, Edinburgh University 
('~raeme Ritchie, Edinburgh University 
Chris Mellish, Edinburgh University 
I,ouisa Sadler, Essex University 
Commitlee 7 
(generic questions in language 
industry) 
Coordinator 
Coordinateur 
Antoine Ogonowski. GSI-Edi 
Reviewers 
Lecteurs 
Jean FAP, GUES, IBM France 
Corinne FOURNIER, DASSAULT AVIATION 
Kenii IIANATAKA, ARIS GmbH 
Ralph KESE, TP, IUMPH ADLFR 
Joseph PENT\[tEROUI)AKIS, ECS (Provo) 
Ac'rl~s DE COLING-92, NA.VI'ES, 23-28 AOt~JT 1992 9 PROC. O1: COLING-92, NANIES, AUG. 23-28, 1992 
