@inproceedings{castilho-etal-2025-synthetic,
title = "Synthetic Fluency: Hallucinations, Confabulations, and the Creation of {I}rish{W}ords in {LLM}-Generated Translations",
author = "Castilho, Sheila and
Fitzsimmons, Zoe and
Holton, Claire and
Donagh, Aoife Mc",
editor = "Bouillon, Pierrette and
Gerlach, Johanna and
Girletti, Sabrina and
Volkart, Lise and
Rubino, Raphael and
Sennrich, Rico and
Farinha, Ana C. and
Gaido, Marco and
Daems, Joke and
Kenny, Dorothy and
Moniz, Helena and
Szoc, Sara",
booktitle = "Proceedings of Machine Translation Summit XX: Volume 1",
month = jun,
year = "2025",
address = "Geneva, Switzerland",
publisher = "European Association for Machine Translation",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2025.mtsummit-1.22/",
pages = "287--299",
ISBN = "978-2-9701897-0-1",
abstract = "This study examines hallucinations in Large Language Model (LLM) translations into Irish, specifically focusing on instances where the models generate novel, non-existent words. We classify these hallucinations within verb and noun categories, identifying six distinct patterns among the latter. Additionally, we analyse whether these hallucinations adhere to Irish morphological rules and what linguistic tendencies they exhibit. Our findings show that while both GPT-4.o and GPT-4.o Mini produce similar types of hallucinations, the Mini model generates them at a significantly higher frequency. Beyond classification, the discussion raises speculative questions about the implications of these hallucinations for the Irish language. Rather than seeking definitive answers, we offer food for thought regarding the increasing use of LLMs and their potential role in shaping Irish vocabulary and linguistic evolution. We aim to prompt discussion on how such technologies might influence language over time, particularly in the context of low-resource, morphologically rich languages."
}<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<modsCollection xmlns="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
<mods ID="castilho-etal-2025-synthetic">
<titleInfo>
<title>Synthetic Fluency: Hallucinations, Confabulations, and the Creation of IrishWords in LLM-Generated Translations</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Sheila</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Castilho</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Zoe</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Fitzsimmons</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Claire</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Holton</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Aoife</namePart>
<namePart type="given">Mc</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Donagh</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<dateIssued>2025-06</dateIssued>
</originInfo>
<typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource>
<relatedItem type="host">
<titleInfo>
<title>Proceedings of Machine Translation Summit XX: Volume 1</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Pierrette</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Bouillon</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Johanna</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Gerlach</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Sabrina</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Girletti</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Lise</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Volkart</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Raphael</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Rubino</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Rico</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Sennrich</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Ana</namePart>
<namePart type="given">C</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Farinha</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Marco</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Gaido</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Joke</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Daems</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Dorothy</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Kenny</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Helena</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Moniz</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Sara</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Szoc</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<publisher>European Association for Machine Translation</publisher>
<place>
<placeTerm type="text">Geneva, Switzerland</placeTerm>
</place>
</originInfo>
<genre authority="marcgt">conference publication</genre>
<identifier type="isbn">978-2-9701897-0-1</identifier>
</relatedItem>
<abstract>This study examines hallucinations in Large Language Model (LLM) translations into Irish, specifically focusing on instances where the models generate novel, non-existent words. We classify these hallucinations within verb and noun categories, identifying six distinct patterns among the latter. Additionally, we analyse whether these hallucinations adhere to Irish morphological rules and what linguistic tendencies they exhibit. Our findings show that while both GPT-4.o and GPT-4.o Mini produce similar types of hallucinations, the Mini model generates them at a significantly higher frequency. Beyond classification, the discussion raises speculative questions about the implications of these hallucinations for the Irish language. Rather than seeking definitive answers, we offer food for thought regarding the increasing use of LLMs and their potential role in shaping Irish vocabulary and linguistic evolution. We aim to prompt discussion on how such technologies might influence language over time, particularly in the context of low-resource, morphologically rich languages.</abstract>
<identifier type="citekey">castilho-etal-2025-synthetic</identifier>
<location>
<url>https://aclanthology.org/2025.mtsummit-1.22/</url>
</location>
<part>
<date>2025-06</date>
<extent unit="page">
<start>287</start>
<end>299</end>
</extent>
</part>
</mods>
</modsCollection>
%0 Conference Proceedings
%T Synthetic Fluency: Hallucinations, Confabulations, and the Creation of IrishWords in LLM-Generated Translations
%A Castilho, Sheila
%A Fitzsimmons, Zoe
%A Holton, Claire
%A Donagh, Aoife Mc
%Y Bouillon, Pierrette
%Y Gerlach, Johanna
%Y Girletti, Sabrina
%Y Volkart, Lise
%Y Rubino, Raphael
%Y Sennrich, Rico
%Y Farinha, Ana C.
%Y Gaido, Marco
%Y Daems, Joke
%Y Kenny, Dorothy
%Y Moniz, Helena
%Y Szoc, Sara
%S Proceedings of Machine Translation Summit XX: Volume 1
%D 2025
%8 June
%I European Association for Machine Translation
%C Geneva, Switzerland
%@ 978-2-9701897-0-1
%F castilho-etal-2025-synthetic
%X This study examines hallucinations in Large Language Model (LLM) translations into Irish, specifically focusing on instances where the models generate novel, non-existent words. We classify these hallucinations within verb and noun categories, identifying six distinct patterns among the latter. Additionally, we analyse whether these hallucinations adhere to Irish morphological rules and what linguistic tendencies they exhibit. Our findings show that while both GPT-4.o and GPT-4.o Mini produce similar types of hallucinations, the Mini model generates them at a significantly higher frequency. Beyond classification, the discussion raises speculative questions about the implications of these hallucinations for the Irish language. Rather than seeking definitive answers, we offer food for thought regarding the increasing use of LLMs and their potential role in shaping Irish vocabulary and linguistic evolution. We aim to prompt discussion on how such technologies might influence language over time, particularly in the context of low-resource, morphologically rich languages.
%U https://aclanthology.org/2025.mtsummit-1.22/
%P 287-299
Markdown (Informal)
[Synthetic Fluency: Hallucinations, Confabulations, and the Creation of IrishWords in LLM-Generated Translations](https://aclanthology.org/2025.mtsummit-1.22/) (Castilho et al., MTSummit 2025)
ACL