Abstract
We employ a Language Model (LM) to gain insight into how complex semantics of Dutch Perception Verb (PV) zien (‘to see’) emerge in children. Using a Dutch LM as representation of mature language use, we find that for ages 4-12y 1) the LM accurately predicts PV use in children’s freely-told narratives; 2) children’s PV use is close to mature use; and 3) complex PV meanings with attentional and cognitive aspects can be found. Our approach illustrates how LMs can be meaningfully employed in studying language development, hence takes a constructive position in the debate on the relevance of LMs in this context.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the Workshop on Cognitive Aspects of the Lexicon @ LREC-COLING 2024 |
| Editors | Michael Zock, Emmanuele Chersoni, Yu-Yin Hsu, Simon De Deyne |
| Publisher | European Language Resources Association (ELRA) |
| Pages | 98-106 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9782493814456 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9782493814456 |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
| Event | 8th Workshop on Cognitive Aspects of the Lexicon, CogALex 2024 - Torino, Italy Duration: 20 May 2024 → … |
Conference
| Conference | 8th Workshop on Cognitive Aspects of the Lexicon, CogALex 2024 |
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| Country/Territory | Italy |
| City | Torino |
| Period | 20/05/24 → … |
Keywords
- computational modelling
- language development
- language models
- pragmatics
- semantics