Modelling language using Large Language Models

Grindrod, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8684-974X (2025) Modelling language using Large Language Models. Philosophical Studies. ISSN 1573-0883 (In Press)

Abstract/Summary

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 competence, but also with language understood as an external, social entity. Once this is recognized, the value of large language models as scientific models becomes clear. This paper defends the position against a number of arguments to the effect that language models provide no linguistic insight. Building upon Weisberg’s (2007) notion of a model construal, it is then argued that recent work in computational linguistics to better understand the inner workings of large language models can be used to develop a model construal for large language models as models of a language.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/127751
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Humanities > Philosophy
Publisher	Springer
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