@inproceedings{zhang-etal-2024-endowing-neural,
title = "Endowing Neural Language Learners with Human-like Biases: A Case Study on Dependency Length Minimization",
author = "Zhang, Yuqing and
Verhoef, Tessa and
van Noord, Gertjan and
Bisazza, Arianna",
editor = "Calzolari, Nicoletta and
Kan, Min-Yen and
Hoste, Veronique and
Lenci, Alessandro and
Sakti, Sakriani and
Xue, Nianwen",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING 2024)",
month = may,
year = "2024",
address = "Torino, Italia",
publisher = "ELRA and ICCL",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2024.lrec-main.516",
pages = "5819--5832",
abstract = "Natural languages show a tendency to minimize the linear distance between heads and their dependents in a sentence, known as dependency length minimization (DLM). Such a preference, however, has not been consistently replicated with neural agent simulations. Comparing the behavior of models with that of human learners can reveal which aspects affect the emergence of this phenomenon. In this work, we investigate the minimal conditions that may lead neural learners to develop a DLM preference. We add three factors to the standard neural-agent language learning and communication framework to make the simulation more realistic, namely: (i) the presence of noise during listening, (ii) context-sensitivity of word use through non-uniform conditional word distributions, and (iii) incremental sentence processing, or the extent to which an utterance{'}s meaning can be guessed before hearing it entirely. While no preference appears in production, we show that the proposed factors can contribute to a small but significant learning advantage of DLM for listeners of verb-initial languages.",
}
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<modsCollection xmlns="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
<mods ID="zhang-etal-2024-endowing-neural">
<titleInfo>
<title>Endowing Neural Language Learners with Human-like Biases: A Case Study on Dependency Length Minimization</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Yuqing</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Zhang</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Tessa</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Verhoef</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Gertjan</namePart>
<namePart type="family">van Noord</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Arianna</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Bisazza</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<dateIssued>2024-05</dateIssued>
</originInfo>
<typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource>
<relatedItem type="host">
<titleInfo>
<title>Proceedings of the 2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING 2024)</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Nicoletta</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Calzolari</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Min-Yen</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Kan</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Veronique</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Hoste</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Alessandro</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Lenci</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Sakriani</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Sakti</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Nianwen</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Xue</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<publisher>ELRA and ICCL</publisher>
<place>
<placeTerm type="text">Torino, Italia</placeTerm>
</place>
</originInfo>
<genre authority="marcgt">conference publication</genre>
</relatedItem>
<abstract>Natural languages show a tendency to minimize the linear distance between heads and their dependents in a sentence, known as dependency length minimization (DLM). Such a preference, however, has not been consistently replicated with neural agent simulations. Comparing the behavior of models with that of human learners can reveal which aspects affect the emergence of this phenomenon. In this work, we investigate the minimal conditions that may lead neural learners to develop a DLM preference. We add three factors to the standard neural-agent language learning and communication framework to make the simulation more realistic, namely: (i) the presence of noise during listening, (ii) context-sensitivity of word use through non-uniform conditional word distributions, and (iii) incremental sentence processing, or the extent to which an utterance’s meaning can be guessed before hearing it entirely. While no preference appears in production, we show that the proposed factors can contribute to a small but significant learning advantage of DLM for listeners of verb-initial languages.</abstract>
<identifier type="citekey">zhang-etal-2024-endowing-neural</identifier>
<location>
<url>https://aclanthology.org/2024.lrec-main.516</url>
</location>
<part>
<date>2024-05</date>
<extent unit="page">
<start>5819</start>
<end>5832</end>
</extent>
</part>
</mods>
</modsCollection>
%0 Conference Proceedings
%T Endowing Neural Language Learners with Human-like Biases: A Case Study on Dependency Length Minimization
%A Zhang, Yuqing
%A Verhoef, Tessa
%A van Noord, Gertjan
%A Bisazza, Arianna
%Y Calzolari, Nicoletta
%Y Kan, Min-Yen
%Y Hoste, Veronique
%Y Lenci, Alessandro
%Y Sakti, Sakriani
%Y Xue, Nianwen
%S Proceedings of the 2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING 2024)
%D 2024
%8 May
%I ELRA and ICCL
%C Torino, Italia
%F zhang-etal-2024-endowing-neural
%X Natural languages show a tendency to minimize the linear distance between heads and their dependents in a sentence, known as dependency length minimization (DLM). Such a preference, however, has not been consistently replicated with neural agent simulations. Comparing the behavior of models with that of human learners can reveal which aspects affect the emergence of this phenomenon. In this work, we investigate the minimal conditions that may lead neural learners to develop a DLM preference. We add three factors to the standard neural-agent language learning and communication framework to make the simulation more realistic, namely: (i) the presence of noise during listening, (ii) context-sensitivity of word use through non-uniform conditional word distributions, and (iii) incremental sentence processing, or the extent to which an utterance’s meaning can be guessed before hearing it entirely. While no preference appears in production, we show that the proposed factors can contribute to a small but significant learning advantage of DLM for listeners of verb-initial languages.
%U https://aclanthology.org/2024.lrec-main.516
%P 5819-5832
Markdown (Informal)
[Endowing Neural Language Learners with Human-like Biases: A Case Study on Dependency Length Minimization](https://aclanthology.org/2024.lrec-main.516) (Zhang et al., LREC-COLING 2024)
ACL