语言学危机根源在社交野心不足，而非理论不严谨。
Generative Linguistics, Large Language Models, and the Social Nature of Scientific Success
- 把语言学成功归因于社会影响力，而非仅靠理论严谨性
- 大模型兴起反映的是研究生态的社交优势，非学术优劣
- 生成语言学需拓展合作圈，让外部研究者共享成果利益
Chesi（即将出版）指出生成语言学正面临危机，这被Piantadosi（2023）宣告的“现代语言模型否定了乔姆斯基的语言观”所预示。为生存，Chesi警告生成语言学家必须提升形式与实证标准。本文反驳称，该危机并非源于严谨性不足，而是生成语言学家社会抱负有限所致。Chesi将生成语言学的命运系于其智力价值，但当前语言模型研究的成功，本质上是社会性的，远超纯粹智力成就。因此，生成语言学家若想繁荣，不仅需响应Chesi对严谨性的呼吁，更应扩大抱负，让外部研究者也能在这一领域的未来中拥有切身利益。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Chesi's (forthcoming) target paper depicts a generative linguistics in crisis, foreboded by Piantadosi's (2023) declaration that "modern language models refute Chomsky's approach to language." In order to survive, Chesi warns, generativists must hold themselves to higher standards of formal and empirical rigor. This response argues that the crisis described by Chesi and Piantadosi actually has little to do with rigor, but is rather a reflection of generativists' limited social ambitions. Chesi ties the fate of generative linguistics to its intellectual merits, but the current success of language model research is social in nature as much as it is intellectual. In order to thrive, then, generativists must do more than heed Chesi's call for rigor; they must also expand their ambitions by giving outsiders a stake in their future success.
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