Linguistic ambiguity analysis in large language models (LLMs)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/1983-3652.2025.53181

Keywords:

Ambiguity, Language model, ChatGPT, Gemini

Abstract

Linguistic ambiguity continues to represent a significant challenge for natural language processing (NLP) systems, notwithstanding the advancements in architectures such as Transformers and BERT. Inspired by the recent success of instructional models like ChatGPT and Gemini (named Bard in 2023), this study aims to analyze and discuss linguistic ambiguity within these models, focusing on three types prevalent in Brazilian Portuguese: semantic, syntactic, and lexical ambiguity. We created a corpus comprising 120 sentences, both ambiguous and unambiguous, for classification, explanation, and disambiguation. The models’ capability to generate ambiguous sentences was also explored by soliciting sets of sentences for each type of ambiguity. The results underwent qualitative analysis, drawing on recognized linguistic references, and quantitative assessment based on the accuracy of the responses obtained. It was evidenced that even the most sophisticated models, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, exhibit errors and deficiencies in their responses, often providing inconsistent explanations. Furthermore, the accuracy peaked at 49.58%, indicating the need for descriptive studies for supervised learning.

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Published

2024-12-20

How to Cite

MORAES, Lavínia; SILVÉRIO, Irene Cristina; MARQUES, Rafael Alexandre Sousa; ANAIA, Bianca de Castro; PAULA, Dandara Freitas de; FARIA, Maria Carolina Schincariol de; CLEVESTON, Iury; CORREIA, Alana de Santana; FREITAG, Raquel Meister Ko. Linguistic ambiguity analysis in large language models (LLMs). Texto Livre, Belo Horizonte-MG, v. 18, p. e53181, 2024. DOI: 10.1590/1983-3652.2025.53181. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/textolivre/article/view/53181. Acesso em: 8 dec. 2025.