{"slug": "misalignments-in-common-ground-as-a-bridge-between-pragmatic-theory-and-llm", "title": "Misalignments in Common Ground as a Bridge Between Pragmatic Theory and LLM Evaluation", "summary": "Judith Sieker and Sina Zarrieß, in a position paper presented at the Third Workshop on the Bridges and Gaps between Formal and Computational Linguistics (BriGap-3) in Paris, France, in July 2026, argue that misalignments in common ground are central diagnostic moments for pragmatic competence and should play a key role in evaluating Large Language Models (LLMs). The paper, published by the Association for Computational Linguistics on pages 74–81, proposes that such misalignments provide controlled settings for testing linguistic theories of common ground, repair, or accommodation, making them a natural bridge between pragmatic theory and LLM evaluation.", "body_md": "##### Abstract\n\nIn this position paper, we argue that misalignments in common ground are not marginal failures of communication, but central diagnostic moments for pragmatic competence, and should therefore play a key role in the evaluation of Large Language Models (LLMs). Evaluating how models respond to such instances of mismatched or incomplete understanding moves beyond surface fluency and correctness, targeting pragmatic competence at a deeper, interactional level. At the same time, misalignments provide controlled settings for testing linguistic theories of common ground, repair, or accommodation – areas that are often difficult to investigate in human communication. We argue that this dual role makes misalignments a natural bridge between pragmatic theory and LLM evaluation.- Anthology ID:\n- 2026.brigap-1.8\n- Volume:\n[Proceedings of the Third Workshop on the Bridges and Gaps between Formal and Computational Linguistics (BriGap-3)](/volumes/2026.brigap-1/)- Month:\n- July\n- Year:\n- 2026\n- Address:\n- Paris, France\n- Editors:\n[Timothée Bernard](/people/timothee-bernard/),[Emmanuele Chersoni](/people/emmanuele-chersoni/),[Giulia Rambelli](/people/giulia-rambelli/unverified/)- Venues:\n[BriGap](/venues/brigap/)|[WS](/venues/ws/)- SIG:\n- Publisher:\n- Association for Computational Linguistics\n- Note:\n- Pages:\n- 74–81\n- Language:\n- URL:\n[https://aclanthology.org/2026.brigap-1.8/](https://aclanthology.org/2026.brigap-1.8/)- DOI:\n- Cite (ACL):\n- Judith Sieker and Sina Zarrieß. 2026.\n[Misalignments in Common Ground as a Bridge Between Pragmatic Theory and LLM Evaluation](https://aclanthology.org/2026.brigap-1.8/). In*Proceedings of the Third Workshop on the Bridges and Gaps between Formal and Computational Linguistics (BriGap-3)*, pages 74–81, Paris, France. Association for Computational Linguistics. - Cite (Informal):\n[Misalignments in Common Ground as a Bridge Between Pragmatic Theory and LLM Evaluation](https://aclanthology.org/2026.brigap-1.8/)(Sieker & Zarrieß, BriGap 2026)- PDF:\n[https://aclanthology.org/2026.brigap-1.8.pdf](https://aclanthology.org/2026.brigap-1.8.pdf)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/misalignments-in-common-ground-as-a-bridge-between-pragmatic-theory-and-llm", "canonical_source": "https://aclanthology.org/2026.brigap-1.8/", "published_at": "2026-07-31 00:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-04 21:51:29.115619+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["large-language-models", "natural-language-processing"], "entities": ["Judith Sieker", "Sina Zarrieß", "Association for Computational Linguistics", "BriGap-3"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/misalignments-in-common-ground-as-a-bridge-between-pragmatic-theory-and-llm", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/misalignments-in-common-ground-as-a-bridge-between-pragmatic-theory-and-llm.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/misalignments-in-common-ground-as-a-bridge-between-pragmatic-theory-and-llm.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/misalignments-in-common-ground-as-a-bridge-between-pragmatic-theory-and-llm.jsonld"}}