Research

Publications

2026

When More Words Say Less: Decoupling Length and Specificity in Image Description Evaluation. [preprint | data & code]
Rhea Kapur, Robert Hawkins, Elisa Kreiss.
Under Review

2024

Reference-Based Metrics Are Biased Against Blind and Low-Vision Users' Image Description Preferences. [paper | data & code]
Rhea Kapur, Elisa Kreiss.
EMNLP 2024: Workshop on NLP for Positive Impact. Best Paper Award.

A "Very" Subjective but "Really" Interesting Phenomenon: Intensifier Variation and Change in Salinas, California. [paper]
J. Adolfo Hermosillo, Jonathan WuWong, Yin Lin Tan, Irene Yi, Rhea Kapur.
Penn Working Papers in Linguistics, 31(2).

2020

Modeling language evolution and feature dynamics in a realistic geographic environment. [paper | data & code]
Rhea Kapur, Phillip Rogers.
COLING 2020.

Conference Presentations

2024

Reference-Based Metrics Are Biased Against Blind and Low-Vision Users' Image Description Preferences. [slides]
Rhea Kapur, Elisa Kreiss.
Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP 2024): NLP for Positive Impact (NLP4PI), Miami, FL, November 2024. Best Paper Award.

A very subjective but really interesting phenomenon: Intensifier variation and change in Salinas. [slides | department press]
J. Adolfo Hermosillo, Jonathan WuWong, Yin Lin Tan, Irene Yi, Rhea Kapur.
New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV 52), Miami, FL, November 2024.

2019

Exploring the dynamics of linguistic typological features in time and space using computer simulations. [program]
Phillip Rogers, Rhea Kapur.
55th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS), University of Chicago, May 2019.

Invited Talks

2025

Social Interaction Lab, Stanford University, April 2025.
LLM Cognition and Linguistic Theory Reading Group, Stanford University, April 2025.

Grants

2024

Conference Grant Recipient, Stanford Undergraduate Research and Independent Projects.

Additional Explorations

2024

Large language model alignment via two-layer neural network feedback. [paper]
Daniel Kuelbs, Rhea Kapur.

Examining Race + Gender in Folktales and LLM-Generated Folk Illustration Descriptions. [paper]
Rhea Kapur.

A case for pre-training in Compositional Generalization tasks. [paper]
Ahmad Jabbar, Rhea Kapur.

Examining Redditors' Perceptions of Controversy in Online Discussions of the Israel-Palestine Conflict. [paper]
Rhea Kapur, Lara Arikan.

2021

Modeling hyperpoliteness in the Russian language. [paper]
Rhea Kapur.