*Monthly online ILFC Seminar: interactions between formal and computational linguistics* https://gdr-lift.loria.fr/monthy-online-ilfc-seminar/

GdR LIFT is happy to announce the two forthcoming sessions of the ILFC seminar on the interactions between formal and computational linguistics (note that they will both be held on a *Wednesday*):

- 2022/09/14 17:00-18:00 UTC+2: *Ellie Pavlick* (Brown University & Google; 11:00-12:00 UTC-4) Title: *Implementing Symbols and Rules with Neural Networks* Abstract: *Many aspects of human language and reasoning are well explained in terms of symbols and rules. However, state-of-the-art computational models are based on large neural networks which lack explicit symbolic representations of the type frequently used in cognitive theories. One response has been the development of neuro-symbolic models which introduce explicit representations of symbols into neural network architectures or loss functions. In terms of Marr’s levels of analysis, such approaches achieve symbolic reasoning at the computational level (“what the system does and why”) by introducing symbols and rules at the implementation and algorithmic levels. In this talk, I will consider an alternative: can neural networks (without any explicit symbolic components) nonetheless implement symbolic reasoning at the computational level? I will describe several diagnostic tests of “symbolic” and “rule-governed” behavior and use these tests to analyze neural models of visual and language processing. Our results show that on many counts, neural models appear to encode symbol-like concepts (e.g., conceptual representations that are abstract, systematic, and modular), but not perfectly so. Analysis of the failure cases reveals that future work is needed on methodological tools for analyzing neural networks, as well as refinement of models of hybrid neuro-symbolic reasoning in humans, in order to determine whether neural networks’ deviations from the symbolic paradigm are a feature or a bug.*

- 2022/10/12 17:00-18:00 UTC+2: *Dan Lassiter* (University of Edinburgh; 16:00-17:00 UTC+1) Title: *Modelling suppositional meaning in discourse*

The seminar is held on Zoom. To attend the seminar and get updates, please register to be on our mailing list: https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/subscribe/seminaire_ilfc