Using Language Models to Unravel Semantic Development in Children’s Use of Perception Verbs
Bram van Dijk, Max J. van Duijn, Li Kloostra, Marco Spruit, Barend Beekhuizen
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.- Anthology ID:
- 2024.cogalex-1.11
- Volume:
- Proceedings of the Workshop on Cognitive Aspects of the Lexicon @ LREC-COLING 2024
- Month:
- May
- Year:
- 2024
- Address:
- Torino, Italia
- Editors:
- Michael Zock, Emmanuele Chersoni, Yu-Yin Hsu, Simon de Deyne
- Venue:
- CogALex
- SIG:
- Publisher:
- ELRA and ICCL
- Note:
- Pages:
- 98–106
- Language:
- URL:
- https://aclanthology.org/2024.cogalex-1.11
- DOI:
- Cite (ACL):
- Bram van Dijk, Max J. van Duijn, Li Kloostra, Marco Spruit, and Barend Beekhuizen. 2024. Using Language Models to Unravel Semantic Development in Children’s Use of Perception Verbs. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Cognitive Aspects of the Lexicon @ LREC-COLING 2024, pages 98–106, Torino, Italia. ELRA and ICCL.
- Cite (Informal):
- Using Language Models to Unravel Semantic Development in Children’s Use of Perception Verbs (van Dijk et al., CogALex 2024)
- PDF:
- https://preview.aclanthology.org/nschneid-patch-4/2024.cogalex-1.11.pdf