What about Grammar? Using BERT Embeddings to Explore Functional-Semantic Shifts of Semi-Lexical and Grammatical Constructions

Lauren Fonteyn
2020 Workshop on Computational Humanities Research  
The aim of this short paper is to extend the application of embedding-based methodologies beyond the realm of lexical semantic change. It focuses on the use of unsupervised BERT-embeddings and uncertainty measures (Classification Entropy), and assesses whether (and how) they can be used to (semi-)automatically flag possible functional-semantic changes in the use of the construction [BE about] in the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA).
dblp:conf/chr/Fonteyn20 fatcat:rqbmaj3blnhinmpwo2v5xamzca