Cultural Compass: Predicting Transfer Learning Success in Offensive Language Detection with Cultural Features

Li Zhou, Antonia Karamolegkou, Wenyu Chen, Daniel Hershcovich


Abstract
The increasing ubiquity of language technology necessitates a shift towards considering cultural diversity in the machine learning realm, particularly for subjective tasks that rely heavily on cultural nuances, such as Offensive Language Detection (OLD). Current understanding underscores that these tasks are substantially influenced by cultural values, however, a notable gap exists in determining if cultural features can accurately predict the success of cross-cultural transfer learning for such subjective tasks. Addressing this, our study delves into the intersection of cultural features and transfer learning effectiveness. The findings reveal that cultural value surveys indeed possess a predictive power for cross-cultural transfer learning success in OLD tasks, and that it can be further improved using offensive word distance. Based on these results, we advocate for the integration of cultural information into datasets. Additionally, we recommend leveraging data sources rich in cultural information, such as surveys, to enhance cultural adaptability. Our research signifies a step forward in the quest for more inclusive, culturally sensitive language technologies.
Anthology ID:
2023.findings-emnlp.845
Volume:
Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2023
Month:
December
Year:
2023
Address:
Singapore
Editors:
Houda Bouamor, Juan Pino, Kalika Bali
Venue:
Findings
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
12684–12702
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2023.findings-emnlp.845
DOI:
10.18653/v1/2023.findings-emnlp.845
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Li Zhou, Antonia Karamolegkou, Wenyu Chen, and Daniel Hershcovich. 2023. Cultural Compass: Predicting Transfer Learning Success in Offensive Language Detection with Cultural Features. In Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EMNLP 2023, pages 12684–12702, Singapore. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
Cultural Compass: Predicting Transfer Learning Success in Offensive Language Detection with Cultural Features (Zhou et al., Findings 2023)
Copy Citation:
PDF:
https://aclanthology.org/2023.findings-emnlp.845.pdf