AI's Language Lapses: Three Common Errors in Ukrainian and Answers to 10 Reader Questions

Celebrating the 50th Edition of 'Language Matters'

According to Главком: For its 50th weekly installment, the 'Language Matters' column on the 'Glavcom' portal tackles a timely issue: the inaccurate responses artificial intelligence provides about the Ukrainian language. This special edition continues the column's tradition, where philologist Olha Vasylieva answers readers' questions sent to [email protected] with the subject line 'Language Matters'. The column is a popular resource for clarifying complex linguistic rules.

Where AI Gets It Wrong

The analysis in this edition identifies three primary error types made by AI, specifically ChatGPT, regarding Ukrainian:

• Error Type One: Citing non-existent grammar rules. For instance, ChatGPT incorrectly stated:

  “You are absolutely right: §88 is about the nominative case of proper personal names, not about adjectives from geographical names. The correct paragraph is: §90. 'Adjectives formed from proper names.'”

• Error Type Two: Inventing dictionary entries and illustrative material, as evidenced by the AI's own admission:

  “You are absolutely right, and thank you for keeping me in an academic tone. The 2019 Ukrainian orthography indeed does not have a section IX titled 'Proper Names.'”

• Error Type Three: Providing incorrect stylistic advice.

Furthermore, the column presents a list of words that ChatGPT incorrectly flagged as Russianisms or calques. These include words like 'proїzzhav' (drove past), 'zhevrilo svitlo' (the light glowed), 'mruzhylysia' (they squinted), and 'zvernuvsia vin do dida' (he turned to the grandfather), among others. This highlights a critical need for greater scrutiny of the linguistic data used to train AI models for Ukrainian.

The edition also features answers to 10 specific language questions from readers. These include Mykhailo Vedmediuk's query about the interjection 'alo'/'allo', Mykola from Kyiv's question about stress in the surname Koval, and Vasyl Malanyshyn's inquiry on the use of prepositions 'z'/'iz'. Other questions cover various aspects of Ukrainian, such as the declension of the name Ihor, the plural of the word 'dno' (bottom), and the translation of the Russian words 'obayatelnyy' (charming) and 'sherokhovatyy' (rough).

This milestone edition of 'Language Matters' underscores the vital importance of linguistic accuracy and the challenges faced by modern language models operating in Ukraine. As AI tools grow in popularity, ensuring their correctness and adherence to Ukrainian language norms is crucial, as it directly impacts the country's linguistic culture and education.