# Smotrom tvoja pa ander drogoj verden! Resurrecting Dead Pidgin with Generative Models: Russenorsk Case Study

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.11065 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.11065/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 6 of its 29 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 31 May 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [A Call for Clarity in Reporting BLEU Scores](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.08771/) (2018)
- [DISCOVERYWORLD: A Virtual Environment for Developing and Evaluating Automated Scientific Discovery Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.06769/) (2024)
- [AstroLLaMA: Towards Specialized Foundation Models in Astronomy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06126/) (2023)
- [LLMs Simulate Big Five Personality Traits: Further Evidence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.01765/) (2024)
- [Large Language Model for Science: A Study on P vs. NP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.05689/) (2023)
- [Sui Generis: Large Language Models for Authorship Attribution and Verification in Latin](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.09245/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Russenorsk, a pidgin language historically used in trade interactions between Russian and Norwegian speakers, represents a unique linguistic phenomenon. In this paper, we attempt to analyze its lexicon using modern large language models (LLMs), based on surviving literary sources. We construct a structured dictionary of the language, grouped by synonyms and word origins. Subsequently, we use this dictionary to formulate hypotheses about the core principles of word formation and grammatical structure in Russenorsk and show which hypotheses generated by large language models correspond to the hypotheses previously proposed ones in the academic literature. We also develop a "reconstruction" translation agent that generates hypothetical Russenorsk renderings of contemporary Russian and Norwegian texts.