#  Week of Oct 20 

 





October 20, 2025

 

 

## **LangCog** 

The next LangCog meeting will be **Tuesday, 10/21** from **5:30-7:00pm,** in **William James Hall, Room 1550**. The speaker is [Sophie Hao](https://notaphonologist.com/) (Boston University), and the title and abstract of her talk can be found below. You can find the schedule for the remainder of the semester on the LangCog [website](https://sites.harvard.edu/langcog/).

**Title:** Towards a Linguistics of Large Language Models

**Abstract**: Large language models (LLMs) are the most successful technique ever developed for generating natural language text; but they are based on principles that are fundamentally at odds with generativist assumptions. In this talk, I argue that LLMs have a “linguistic competence” that is similar to, but not the same as, human language. I make the case that investigating LLM language on its own terms, without measuring LLMs against a human standard, can lead to new perspectives on traditional theoretical debates. I conclude the talk by showing how the ongoing development and proliferation of LLM technologies provide opportunities for linguists of all subfields to make broad social impact.



 

 

 



 

 

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