cs.AIOct 22, 2026
SavePatronizing and Condescending Language Detection in English and Mandarin
Organizations: University of Washington
Abstract
Patronizing and condescending language (PCL) is a form of harmful language that belittles and assumes pity for vulnerable groups, reinforcing negative societal stereotypes. However, unlike overt hate speech, it is often difficult to detect, even for human judges. This paper proposes a system for the automated detection of PCL. Our first approach uses static word embeddings and a convolutional neural network for classification, while our second approach uses pre-trained BERT embeddings fine-tuned for the PCL task. Our second approach was considerably more successful, and achieved an F1 score of 0.528 over the development set.
Figures & tables
| Model | Precision | Recall | F1 Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linear NN | 0.129 | 0.038 | 0.058 |
| Conv1D NN (with undersampling) | 0.084 | 0.343 | 0.135 |
| BERT (4 epochs) | 0.589 | 0.306 | 0.403 |
| BERT (2 epochs) | 0.565 | 0.495 | 0.528 |
Table 1: Precision, recall, and F1 score for each model in our initial system over the development set.
| Data Augmentation Method | Precision | Recall | F1 Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Random Deletion (9 samples) | 0.103 | 1.0 | 0.187 |
| Random Deletion (3 samples) | 0.429 | 0.438 | 0.433 |
| Synonym Replacement (3 samples) | 0.475 | 0.372 | 0.417 |
Table 2: Precision, recall, and F1 score for each model type in our revised system over the development set.
| Text | Ground Truth Label | Predicted Label |
|---|---|---|
| "They follow a crippling El Nino-triggered drought which scorched much of the region last year , hitting crop production and leaving millions in need of food aid ." | 0 | 1 |
| "If they couldn’t , automated "" robo-debt "" letters told them to pay up , in an inversion of the usual onus of proof . It worked like extortion . Some of the victims were vulnerable , some couldn’t cope ." | 0 | 1 |
| According to Betty-Ann Blaine , executive director of Hear the Children ’s Cry , deterioration of family life ; instability/shifting households ; crippling levels of poverty ; lack of adequate social support systems and heartbreaking levels of hopelessness are key factors leading to children running away from homes . | 1 | 0 |
| "Homeless children are "" living like refugees in their own country "" , deprived of the ability to make choices about when they eat , and in many cases suffering high levels of anxiety about their parents ’ health ." | 1 | 0 |
Table 3: Some examples of errors made by our fine-tuned BERT system.