mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Language Models Use Monotonicity to Assess NPI Licensing

arXiv 2105.13818 ↗First posted 28 May 2021cs.CLcited by 31

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Abstract (arXiv)

We investigate the semantic knowledge of language models (LMs), focusing on (1) whether these LMs create categories of linguistic environments based on their semantic monotonicity properties, and (2) whether these categories play a similar role in LMs as in human language understanding, using negative polarity item licensing as a case study. We introduce a series of experiments consisting of probing with diagnostic classifiers (DCs), linguistic acceptability tasks, as well as a novel DC ranking method that tightly connects the probing results to the inner workings of the LM. By applying our experimental pipeline to LMs trained on various filtered corpora, we are able to gain stronger insights into the semantic generalizations that are acquired by these models.

Key facts. Cited by 31 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 23 of its 49 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 28 May 2021.

Builds on

23 of 49 references.

References · 23

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11 more
  1. 2019Neural Language Models as Psycholinguistic Subjects: Representations of Syntactic Statecited by 138
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Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2021: 5; 2022: 2; 2023: 4; 2024: 6; 2025: 6; 2026: 8.

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  1. 2022State-of-the-art generalisation research in NLP: A taxonomy and reviewcited by 98
  2. 2023Language models are not naysayers: An analysis of language models on negation benchmarkscited by 74
  3. 2024Language Models Learn Rare Phenomena from Less Rare Phenomena: The Case of the Missing AANNscited by 65
  4. 2021Structural Persistence in Language Models: Priming as a Window into Abstract Language Representationscited by 44
  5. 2024Filtered Corpus Training (FiCT) Shows that Language Models can Generalize from Indirect Evidencecited by 35
  6. 2021Sparse Interventions in Language Models with Differentiable Maskingcited by 34
  7. 2025Can Language Models Learn Typologically Implausible Languages?cited by 23
  8. 2023DecoderLens: Layerwise Interpretation of Encoder-Decoder Transformerscited by 22
  9. 2025Both Direct and Indirect Evidence Contribute to Dative Alternation Preferences in Language Modelscited by 18
  10. 2024Generalizations across filler-gap dependencies in neural language modelscited by 12
  11. 2023Can Language Models Be Tricked by Language Illusions? Easier with Syntax, Harder with Semanticscited by 11
  12. 2024A systematic framework for generating novel experimental hypotheses from language modelscited by 9
19 more
  1. 2021Causal Transformers Perform Below Chance on Recursive Nested Constructions, Unlike Humanscited by 8
  2. 2023Simple Linguistic Inferences of Large Language Models (LLMs): Blind Spots and Blindscited by 7
  3. 2024From Form(s) to Meaning: Probing the Semantic Depths of Language Models Using Multisense Consistencycited by 7
  4. 2025Probing LLMs for Multilingual Discourse Generalization Through a Unified Label Setcited by 4
  5. 2022Testing Pre-trained Language Models' Understanding of Distributivity via Causal Mediation Analysiscited by 3
  6. 2025Language Models at the Syntax-Semantics Interface: A Case Study of the Long-Distance Binding of Chinese Reflexive zijicited by 2
  7. 2026What Exactly do Children Receive in Language Acquisition? A Case Study on CHILDES with Automated Detection of Filler-Gap Dependenciescited by 1
  8. 2026Cross-Modal Taxonomic Generalization in (Vision-) Language Modelscited by 1
  9. 2021Transformers in the loop: Polarity in neural models of languagecited by 0
  10. 2021Connecting degree and polarity: An artificial language learning studycited by 0
  11. 2024Black Big Boxes: Tracing Adjective Order Preferences in Large Language Modelscited by 0
  12. 2025Investigating Syntactic Biases in Multilingual Transformers with RC Attachment Ambiguities in Italian and Englishcited by 0
  13. 2025Uncovering Implicit Bias in Large Language Models with Concept Learning Datasetcited by 0
  14. 2026Spectral Archaeology: The Causal Topology of Model Evolutioncited by 0
  15. 2026Fine-Grained Analysis of Shared Syntactic Mechanisms in Language Modelscited by 0
  16. 2026Targeted Linguistic Analysis of Sign Language Models with Minimal Translation Pairscited by 0
  17. 2026Language Models Generalize to Human-like Word Order Preferencescited by 0
  18. 2026Disentangling Statistical Preemption from Entrenchment in Language Models' Avoidance of Overgeneralizationcited by 0
  19. 2026BLiMPPI: Benchmark of Linguistic Minimal Pairs for Polarity Itemscited by 0