The Interpretation of Korean Possibility Modal -ul-swu-iss by Humans and Large Language Models

초록

This study investigates how the Korean modality expression -ul-swu-iss with -ess attached is interpreted by 54 Korean speakers and three variants of the large language model [LLM] ChatGPT: GPT3.5-turbo, GPT4, and GPT4o. The results show a discrepancy between the way in which humans and LLMs interpret this expression. Human participants demonstrate a clear preference for the uncertain interpretation for -ess-ul-swu-iss and the unactualized interpretation for -ul-swu-iss-ess with the desirability of the event modulating the preference, but none of the models capture this nuanced distinction in meaning. The human results are discussed based on Condoravdi(2002), such that the past perspective in -ul-swu-iss-ess derives the counterfactual implicature from the unactualized result whereas the present perspective in -ess-ul-swu-iss derives the epistemic reading from the speaker’s uncertainty about the result. The results from these LLMs indicate that they are not yet able to interpret these expressions as humans do.

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