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Futrell and Mahowald (2025) frame the success of neural language models (LMs) as supporting gradient, usage-based linguistic theories. I argue that LMs can also instantiate theories based on formal structures - the types of theories seen in…
Futrell and Mahowald claim LMs "serve as model systems", but an assessment at each of Marr's three levels suggests the claim is clearly not true at the implementation level, poorly motivated at the algorithmic-representational level, and…
Recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) have spurred interest in expanding their application beyond text-based tasks. A large number of studies have explored integrating other modalities with LLMs, notably speech modality, which…
Language models can produce fluent, grammatical text. Nonetheless, some maintain that language models don't really learn language and also that, even if they did, that would not be informative for the study of human learning and processing.…
How does textual representation of audio relate to the Large Language Model's (LLMs) learning about the audio world? This research investigates the extent to which LLMs can be prompted to generate audio, despite their primary training in…
Large Language Models (LLMs) are rapidly transforming education by enabling rich conversational learning experiences. This article provides a comprehensive review of how LLM-based conversational agents are being used in higher education,…
Large language models (LLMs) have exhibited remarkable capabilities across a variety of domains and tasks, challenging our understanding of learning and cognition. Despite the recent success, current LLMs are not capable of processing…
Conversational systems relying on text-based large language models (LLMs) often overlook paralinguistic cues, essential for understanding emotions and intentions. Speech-language models (SLMs), which use speech as input, are emerging as a…
Simulation is an invaluable tool for developing and evaluating controllers for self-driving cars. Current simulation frameworks are driven by highly-specialist domain specific languages, and so a natural language interface would greatly…
In second language learning, scenario-based conversation practice is important for language learners to achieve fluency in speaking, but students often lack sufficient opportunities to practice their conversational skills with qualified…
Recent advances in multimodal LLMs, have led to several video-text models being proposed for critical video-related tasks. However, most of the previous works support visual input only, essentially muting the audio signal in the video. Few…
This chapter critically examines the potential contributions of modern language models to theoretical linguistics. Despite their focus on engineering goals, these models' ability to acquire sophisticated linguistic knowledge from mere…
This paper argues that large language models have a valuable scientific role to play in serving as scientific models of public languages. Linguistic study should not only be concerned with the cognitive processes behind linguistic…
The exponential growth of text-based data in domains such as healthcare, education, and social sciences has outpaced the capacity of traditional qualitative analysis methods, which are time-intensive and prone to subjectivity. Large…
Dialogue systems are a popular natural language processing (NLP) task as it is promising in real-life applications. It is also a complicated task since many NLP tasks deserving study are involved. As a result, a multitude of novel works on…
Machine learning techniques have proved useful for classifying and analyzing audio content. However, recent methods typically rely on abstract and high-dimensional representations that are difficult to interpret. Inspired by…
Machine learning techniques have conquered many different tasks in speech and natural language processing, such as speech recognition, information extraction, text and speech generation, and human machine interaction using natural language…
Speech understanding is essential for interpreting the diverse forms of information embedded in spoken language, including linguistic, paralinguistic, and non-linguistic cues that are vital for effective human-computer interaction. The…
Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown the potential to be valuable teaching tools, with the potential of giving every student a personalized tutor. However, one challenge with using LLMs to learn new concepts is that when learning a topic…
This paper addresses the conceptual, methodological and technical challenges in studying large language models (LLMs) and the texts they produce from a quantitative linguistics perspective. It builds on a theoretical framework that…