@inproceedings{van-dijk-etal-2024-using,
    title = "Using a Language Model to Unravel Semantic Development in Children{'}s Use of a Dutch Perception Verb",
    author = "van Dijk, Bram  and
      van Duijn, Max J.  and
      Kloostra, Li  and
      Spruit, Marco  and
      Beekhuizen, Barend",
    editor = "Zock, Michael  and
      Chersoni, Emmanuele  and
      Hsu, Yu-Yin  and
      de Deyne, Simon",
    booktitle = "Proceedings of the Workshop on Cognitive Aspects of the Lexicon @ LREC-COLING 2024",
    month = may,
    year = "2024",
    address = "Torino, Italia",
    publisher = "ELRA and ICCL",
    url = "https://preview.aclanthology.org/fix-sig-urls/2024.cogalex-1.11/",
    pages = "98--106",
    abstract = "In this short paper we employ a Language Model (LM) to gain insight into how complex semantics of a Perception Verb (PV) emerge in children. Using a Dutch LM as representation of mature language use, we find that for all ages 1) the LM accurately predicts PV use in children{'}s freely-told narratives; 2) children{'}s PV use is close to mature use; 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."
}