arXiv — NLP / Computation & Language · · 3 min read

MWE-ECL: Recoverable Long-Range Context Does Not Always Override Local Lexical Priors

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Computer Science > Computation and Language

arXiv:2609.27590 (cs)
[Submitted on 23 Sep 2026]

Title:MWE-ECL: Recoverable Long-Range Context Does Not Always Override Local Lexical Priors

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Abstract:Long-context evaluations often test whether a model can recover distant evidence, but recoverability does not guarantee behavioral influence. We test the prediction that a distant discourse anchor can remain explicitly recoverable yet fail to change the locally preferred reading of a familiar multiword expression; such failures should concentrate when the model's no-anchor default conflicts with the anchor, while prior-correct decisions remain largely preserved. We introduce Multiword Expression Effective Context Length (MWE-ECL), a bilingual diagnostic whose matched anchor-retrieval, no-anchor prior, and interpretation prompts measure explicit recoverability, model-observed defaults, and anchor-conditioned decisions, respectively. Across eight English deployment panels on a shared 0-128K grid, retrieval-control accuracy on prior-conflict items is 0.989-1.000, prior-conflict override spans 0.806-1.000 (0.809-1.000 after conditioning on correct retrieval), and preservation of prior-correct decisions remains 0.977-1.000. A same-call control querying retrieval and interpretation in one prompt reproduces the gap for DeepSeek V4 Pro (1.000 retrieval versus 0.900-0.920 interpretation), showing that separate invocations are not its sole explanation; smaller or absent gaps in the other two models bound its generality. For DeepSeek V4 Flash, separate prompt-fit tests retain perfect retrieval with lower interpretation at 512K and 1M, while foil-consistent cues shift the no-anchor prior far more than retrieval; cross-model cue effects are heterogeneous. A separately reported 10-family Chinese subset shows similar descriptive gaps, but imperfect retrieval for some models prevents an integration-only attribution. MWE-ECL therefore evaluates whether explicitly recoverable distant context changes a competing local semantic decision.
Subjects: Computation and Language (cs.CL)
Cite as: arXiv:2609.27590 [cs.CL]
  (or arXiv:2609.27590v1 [cs.CL] for this version)
  https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.27590
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

Submission history

From: Wei He [view email]
[v1] Wed, 23 Sep 2026 09:09:04 UTC (189 KB)
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