Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Mar 21

I think it's fascinating that things like "a", "an", and other smaller discourse particles just get totally wiped out in LLM style analyses of language. Unless they don't? Correct me please!!

2

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Mar 14

I really appreciate how much natural light we get in my department’s new space…

4

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Mar 12

at least as the sole mechanism, so LLMs are participating in this human enterprise without the full scope of human cognitive capacity... it’s almost easier to imagine each AI model as a strange individual human with their own personality quirks w/r/t linguistic behaviors.

1

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Mar 12

So does anyone think LLMs are “doing language?” In one sense, yes, because what they are outputting is language. In another sense, I am not convinced there is a human out there that “does” language using transformers or diffusion …

1 1

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Mar 10

Y'know, since ideology shapes our understanding of at least our social reality, and language is the primary vehicle of ideology, I can't help but think about a fun conversation between Zizek and Whorf.

2

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Mar 7

splurging for the laptop with the touch screen was a great choice

3

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Mar 5

"To act intelligently and see intelligently become one" - C. S. Peirce

2 2

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Mar 3

The way you describe wolves howling in Mohawk, kontiwén:note, literally means they (konti) are standing (ote) the words (wenn) up. It is the same word for talking about a group of people speaking. #kanienkeha #linguistics #indigenous

1 3

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Mar 3

Dan Everett writing a biography on C. S. Peirce does not surprise me: Peirce's semiotic theory is probably the most significant possible challenger to Chomskyan thought about language. I would recommend reading Peirce. #cspeirce

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 28

LMAO wow, ok — yes these two names are very helpful in understanding this table of contents

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 26

1 2

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 25

Today, I repaired my broken pair of glasses (pictured) today, and relieved myself of the headache my contacts were giving me. 🤓

1

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 25

Anyone got a good youtube about the Minimalist program of linguistics? Or a podcast. ngl I'm into Lakoff/embodied cognition and Peircean semiotics. How is this one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJSz... #linguistics #minimalism #chomsky

Noam Chomsky, Genuine Explanation and the Strong Minimalist Thesis (MIT Linguistics Colloquium)

YouTube video by Abdessamia Bencheikh

www.youtube.com

2

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 24

A community of settlers claiming to be Indigenous were recognized by the state of Vermont ten years ago, but it has come to light that the Vermont state legislature made a wrong call, and, imo, ought to rectify it: vtdigger.org/2025/02/20/a...

At contentious Statehouse panel, Abenaki leaders urge lawmakers to reconsider recognition of Vermont groups - VTDigger

The event was hosted by Rep. Troy Headrick, I-Burlington, who plans to introduce a bill that would set up a task force to review past tribal recognition decisions in the state.

vtdigger.org

3

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 24

Yeah, or if I’m shaking a dog’s hand / paw. I’m actually good calling it either of those in that situation, but not foot. Lol

1

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 24

My current method is to grade them with the same rubric and just make sure to penalize AI misuse just as I would other kinds of factual or structural errors. I also let them know if they write something they don’t want to read, I don’t want to read it, either.

1

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 24

Ok, so here’s a question. I have an undergrad course, I assign my students a 500-word response paper. They are allowed to use AI as long as they disclose AI. Should the AI and non-AI papers be graded with the same, or a different rubric?

1

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 24

Depends on what they're up to.

1 1

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 23

"Do not block the way of inquiry." - C. S. Peirce, 1899

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 23

also a win: managed to switch my dad’s tv preferences from fox to msnbc, which had a good bit on about history and the war in Ukraine

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 23

The presence of Ohio as a (meme) word in a significant amount of the populations’s vocabulary means that this same population is now highly cognizant of a word of Iroquoian origin - ohí:yo’ “beautiful river” #linguistics

1 7

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 22

The only reason people want humanoid robots is because they want indentured servants, they have a god complex or both. A human is such a stupid design for a robot. However, most other animals (birds, snakes, fish) are cool designs for robots.

1

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 21

Just used Zoom's AI summary for some meetings I had yesterday. I don't think I lost anything in using it. Mentally correcting the notes it sent after the meeting helped me consolidate my memory, even.

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 20

1

montgomery hill @doctormont.bsky.social · Feb 19

I'm glad the judge is making them listen to it even though they don't want to hear it.

Sarah Whorley, Ph.D. @dralgaegirl.bsky.social · Feb 19

Judge Reyes just became my favorite person.

1