LLMs and syntactic theory : Lexical Functional Grammar has no fear

Abstract

This paper responds to Chesi’s paper Is it the end of (generative) linguistics as we know it? from the perspective of a computational linguist who works within one of several generative syntactic frameworks, namely Lexical Functional Grammar. Chesi’s general conclusions and recommendations to Minimalism for the best way forward are found to hold, yet the diagnosis of the precise causes and therefore also the suggestion of remedies differs. Overall, I propose that the chances and opportunities offered by advances in machine learning in general and Large Language Models in particular should be studied carefully and integrated into a model of language which combines a rule-and-symbol driven approach with gradient and probabilistic information.