Characterizing English Variation across Social Media Communities with BERT
Characterizing English Variation across Social Media Communities with BERT
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DOI：
10.1162/tacl_a_00383
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发表时间：
2021-02
影响因子：
10.9
通讯作者：
Li Lucy;David Bamman
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Li Lucy;David Bamman
摘要以前许多描述互联网社交群体语言差异的工作都集中在这些群体使用的词语类型上。我们扩展了这种类型的研究，采用BERT来表征词义的变化，分析了474个Reddit社区两个月的英语评论。不同的意义集群的社区的特异性，结合社区的独特的词类型的特异性，被用来确定的情况下，一个社会群体的语言偏离规范。我们使用用户创建的词汇表来验证我们的指标，并借鉴社会语言学理论将语言变化与社区行为趋势联系起来。我们发现，具有高度独特语言的社区是中等规模的，他们的忠诚和高度参与的用户在密集的网络中互动。
Abstract Much previous work characterizing language variation across Internet social groups has focused on the types of words used by these groups. We extend this type of study by employing BERT to characterize variation in the senses of words as well, analyzing two months of English comments in 474 Reddit communities. The specificity of different sense clusters to a community, combined with the specificity of a community’s unique word types, is used to identify cases where a social group’s language deviates from the norm. We validate our metrics using user-created glossaries and draw on sociolinguistic theories to connect language variation with trends in community behavior. We find that communities with highly distinctive language are medium-sized, and their loyal and highly engaged users interact in dense networks.