Large Language Models and theoretical linguistics
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Danny Fox
Abstract
Some recent publications have made the suggestion that Large Language Models are not just successful engineering tools but also good theories of human linguistic cognition. This note reviews methodological and empirical reasons to reject this suggestion out of hand.
References
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- The empirical turn and its consequences for theoretical syntax
- Linguistic typology in action: how to know more
- Large language models are better than theoretical linguists at theoretical linguistics
- On the goals of theoretical linguistics
- Social meaning
- Large Language Models and theoretical linguistics
- It’s time for a complete theory of partial predictability in language
- Theoretical Linguistics and the philosophy of linguistics
- Speech and sign: the whole human language
- Cross-linguistic insights in the theory of semantics and its interface with syntax
- Reflections on the grammatical view of scalar implicatures
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- The empirical turn and its consequences for theoretical syntax
- Linguistic typology in action: how to know more
- Large language models are better than theoretical linguists at theoretical linguistics
- On the goals of theoretical linguistics
- Social meaning
- Large Language Models and theoretical linguistics
- It’s time for a complete theory of partial predictability in language
- Theoretical Linguistics and the philosophy of linguistics
- Speech and sign: the whole human language
- Cross-linguistic insights in the theory of semantics and its interface with syntax
- Reflections on the grammatical view of scalar implicatures
