Language Models Learn Constructional Semantics, Not To Mention Syntax: Investigating LM Understanding of Paired-Focus Constructions
CoNLL. 2026.
CV
Education
- Ph.D in Computational Linguistics, Georgetown University, 2027 (expected)
- M.A. in Linguistics (Computational Concentration), University of North Texas, 2022
- B.A. in Linguistics, University of North Texas, 2019
Work experience
- Summer 2024: Student Research Intern
- Army Research Lab
- Duties: Lead research project, selected as Award Finalist among all ARL interns
- Supervisor: Claire Bonial, Austin Blodgett
- Fall 2022, Spring 2025: Research Assistant
- Georgetown University
- Supervisor: Nathan Schneider
- Summer 2021: Research Assistant
- University of North Texas
- Supervisor: Taraka Rama
Skills
- Python (PyTorch, transformers, pandas, scikit-learn, seaborn, matplotlib)
- R
- LaTeX
Publications
Beyond Memorization: Assessing Semantic Generalization in Large Language Models Using Phrasal Constructions
AACL. 2025.
Unpacking Let Alone: Human-Scale Models Generalize to a Rare Construction in Form but not Meaning
EMNLP. 2025.
GDTB: Genre Diverse Data for English Shallow Discourse Parsing across Modalities, Text Types, and Domains
EMNLP. 2024.
Talks
How do different Input Distributions Shape Constructional Acquisition in LMs? A Case Study of NPNs
Non-Archival Conference Presentation at MASC-ALL - Howard University, Washington DC, USA
Testing Syntax-Semantics Interactions with Language Models
Talk at Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA
Computational Linguistics and Construction Grammar
Talk at University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA, USA
Constructional Knowledge in LMs: Form and Meaning
Talk at University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Do Language Models Learn the Let-Alone Construction?
Talk at CU Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
Introduction to Construction Grammar
Talk at Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA
Lost in Translation: Exploring Google Translate’s handling of Spanish forms of address in film dialogue
Non-Archival Conference Presentation at The 2024 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Lincoln, NE, USA
Do language models represent constructions? A case study of NPN
Non-Archival Conference Presentation at CLANAC, Montréal, Canada
Investigating the NPN Construction Using Probing and Perturbations
Non-Archival Conference Presentation at MASC-SLL - Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD, USA
Teaching
Intro to Language
Georgetown University.
Second Language Acquisition
University of North Texas.
Python For Text
University of North Texas.
All About Prepositions
Georgetown University.
Machine Learning for Language Data
Georgetown University.
Intro to Language
Georgetown University.
History of English
University of North Texas.
Field Methods
University of North Texas.
Computational Language Processing
Georgetown University.
Computational Corpus Linguistics
Georgetown University.
Service and leadership
- Reviewer - ARR, since 2025
- Reviewer - ACL SRW, since 2025
- Reviewer - LAW, since 2025
- Reviewer - CxG+NLP, since 2025