Large language models are not about natural language.

Authors

Johan J Bolhuis, Andrea Moro, Stephen Crain, Sandiway Fong

Published in

The Behavioral and brain sciences. Volume 49. Pages e201. Jul 01, 2026. Epub Jul 01, 2026.

Abstract

Large Language Models are useless for linguistics, as they are probabilistic models that require a vast amount of data to analyze externalized strings of words. In contrast, human language is underpinned by a mind-internal computational system that recursively generates hierarchical thought structures. The language system grows with minimal external input and can readily distinguish between real language and impossible languages.

PMID:
42379995
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 01 Jul 2026.

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