2nd CALL FOR PAPERS: Special Track for Human Language Technologies (HLT)

A Special Track for Human Language Technologies (HLT) is being organised by the ALASA Special Interest Group for Language and Speech Technology Development, to run in parallel with the
14th International Conference of the African Language Association
of Southern Africa.

Dates: 9 - 11 July 2007
Venue: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth
Theme: HLT research in South Africa: towards sustainable development*

*Due to practical reasons, only papers specifically focussing on languages spoken in Africa will be considered.

Sub-themes:
a) Resource development
b) Speech processing
c) Text processing
d) HLT applications

Important Extended Dates:
30 April 2007 - Submission of abstract and summary
15 May 2007 - Notification of acceptance
Time allocated to each presentation: 20 min plus 10 min discussion

Purpose of Special Track:
• to bring together the growing Human Language Technologies (HLT)
community in South Africa and encourage interactions;
• to encourage dissemination of results;
• to foster interaction between academic and industrial research;
• to provide a forum for discussion of new research and
students research;
• to increase visibility of HLT research in South Africa.

Submission of abstracts and summaries:
Abstracts and summaries should be submitted by e-mail as an MS Word file attachment in accordance with the following guidelines:
• Author’s title, surname and first name
• Institutional affiliation
• E-mail address
• Telephone and/or fax numbers
• Title of the paper
• An abstract of the paper of approximately 100 words
• A summary of the paper of approximately 500 – 800 words (excluding the “References”), stating the research questions and aims, the theoretical approach and the main findings of the paper.
• Please submit your abstract and summary to: boschse [at] unisa [dot] ac [dot] za
• An acknowledgement of receipt of your submission should reach you within three days. If this is not the case, please enquire as soon as possible.

Submission of Papers:
Authors may submit their papers for publication in the South African Journal of African Languages as individual contributions. Instructions to authors are obtainable from Prof. Albert Kotze kotzeae [at] unisa [dot] ac [dot] za

Registration details and other information:
Should you require more information regarding registration and accommodation, please respond to the ALASA Conference Secretariat:
Mrs Yolande Ferreira yolande [dot] ferreira [at] nmmu [dot] ac [dot] za
Tel: +27 41 504 2187 Fax: +27 41 5049353

More information will also be available on the website soon.
https://www.alasa.org.za/sig
See also: https://www.meraka.org.za/nhn

Special Track Organisers:
Justus Roux
Stellenbosch University Centre for Language and Speech Technology
jcr [at] sun [dot] ac [dot] za

Sonja Bosch
University of South Africa
boschse [at] unisa [dot] ac [dot] za

Danie Prinsloo
University of Pretoria
Danie [dot] prinsloo [at] up [dot] ac [dot] za