---
language:
- it
license: cc-by-sa-4.0
task_categories:
- text-classification
- text-ranking
- question-answering
pretty_name: BLiMP-IT
size_categories:
- 10K<n<100K
tags:
- linguistics
- syntax
- morphology
- acceptability
- minimal-pairs
- language-model-evaluation
- italian
configs:
  - config_name: blimp_it_agreement_and_inflection_dp
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_agreement_and_inflection_dp/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_adjunctisland
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_adjunctisland/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_affirmative2
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_affirmative2/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_affirmative_mi
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_affirmative_mi/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_affirmative_ti
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_affirmative_ti/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_gap_nogap_clitic
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_gap_nogap_clitic/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_gap_nogap_np_aux
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_gap_nogap_np_aux/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_nogap_gap_clitic
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_nogap_gap_clitic/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_nogap_gap_np_aux
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_nogap_gap_np_aux/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_nogap_nogap_clitic
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_nogap_nogap_clitic/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_nogap_nogap_np_aux
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_interrogative_nogap_nogap_np_aux/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_rc_object_gap_nogap
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_rc_object_gap_nogap/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_rc_object_nogap_gap
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_rc_object_nogap_gap/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_atb_rc_object_nogap_nogap
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_atb_rc_object_nogap_nogap/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_complexnpisland
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_complexnpisland/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_coordinatestructureconstraint_complex_object_extraction
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_coordinatestructureconstraint_complex_object_extraction/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_left_branch_island_echo_question
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_left_branch_island_echo_question/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_parasiticgap_adjunctisland1
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_parasiticgap_adjunctisland1/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_parasiticgap_adjunctisland2
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_parasiticgap_adjunctisland2/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_rc_object
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_rc_object/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_rc_object_nogap
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_rc_object_nogap/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_rc_subject
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_rc_subject/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_rc_subject_nogap
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_rc_subject_nogap/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_sententialsubjectisland
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_sententialsubjectisland/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd2_clitic_inanimate
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd2_clitic_inanimate/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd2_np_inanimate
    data_files: 
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd2_np_inanimate/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd2_np_inanimate_dem
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd2_np_inanimate_dem/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd_clitic_inanimate
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd_clitic_inanimate/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd_np_inanimate
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd_np_inanimate/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd_np_inanimate_dem
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_wh_extraction_embedd_np_inanimate_dem/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_wh_island_embedd
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_wh_island_embedd/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_wh_island_root
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_wh_island_root/test.jsonl
  - config_name: blimp_it_non_local_dependencies_wh_island_root_affirmative_dove
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/blimp_it_original_non_local_dependencies_wh_island_root_affirmative_dove/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_dp
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_dp/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_past_particple_pre_v_cl
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_past_particple_pre_v_cl/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_past_particple_unacc
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_past_particple_unacc/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_psych_verbs_piacere
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_psych_verbs_piacere/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_psych_verbs_preoccupare
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_psych_verbs_preoccupare/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_subject_nominal_predicate
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_subject_nominal_predicate/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_subject_nominal_predicate_attraction
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_subject_nominal_predicate_attraction/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_attraction
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_attraction/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_cumulative
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_cumulative/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_trans
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_trans/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_unacc
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_unacc/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_unerg
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_unerg/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_unerg_trans
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_unerg_trans/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_a_agreement_verb_subject_unacc
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_a_agreement_verb_subject_unacc/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_ditranstitives
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_ditranstitives/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_passive_active_diathesis
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_passive_active_diathesis/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_transtitives
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_transtitives/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_unaccusatives
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_unaccusatives/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_unergatives
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_unergatives/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_b_argument_structure_b_theta_roles
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_b_argument_structure_b_theta_roles/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_b_argument_structure_theta_roles
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_b_argument_structure_theta_roles/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_c_pronouns_1_2_person_answers
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_c_pronouns_1_2_person_answers/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_c_pronouns_1_2_person_elicited_declaratives
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_c_pronouns_1_2_person_elicited_declaratives/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_c_pronouns_clitics_answering_with_acc_cl
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_c_pronouns_clitics_answering_with_acc_cl/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_c_pronouns_clitics_coordinating_with_acc_cl
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_c_pronouns_clitics_coordinating_with_acc_cl/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_c_pronouns_clitics_coordinating_with_dat_cl
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_c_pronouns_clitics_coordinating_with_dat_cl/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_c_pronouns_reflexives_other
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_c_pronouns_reflexives_other/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_c_pronouns_reflexives_psych_verbs
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_c_pronouns_reflexives_psych_verbs/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_c_pronouns_reflexives_unacc
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_c_pronouns_reflexives_unacc/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_d_questions_d_answering_questions_with_rc_obj
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_d_questions_d_answering_questions_with_rc_obj/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_d_questions_d_answering_questions_with_rc_subj
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_d_questions_d_answering_questions_with_rc_subj/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_d_questions_d_answering_wh_adjunct_questions
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_d_questions_d_answering_wh_adjunct_questions/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_d_questions_d_answering_wh_argument_questions
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_d_questions_d_answering_wh_argument_questions/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_d_questions_d_answering_wh_argument_questions_number_disambiguation
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_d_questions_d_answering_wh_argument_questions_number_disambiguation/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_d_questions_d_answering_why_questions
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_d_questions_d_answering_why_questions/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_d_questions_d_answering_yes_no_questions
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_d_questions_d_answering_yes_no_questions/test.jsonl
  - config_name: conversa_d_questions_d_question_formation_subject_position
    data_files:
    - split: test
      path: data/test/conversa_d_questions_d_question_formation_subject_position/test.jsonl
---

# BLiMP-IT

## Dataset Summary

BLiMP-IT is a linguistically motivated benchmark for evaluating Italian language models through **minimal pairs**. 
Each example consists of a grammatical sentence paired with a minimally different ungrammatical counterpart that isolates a single morphosyntactic contrast. 
The benchmark is designed to evaluate whether language models assign higher probability to the grammatical sentence than to the ungrammatical one.

The benchmark is inspired by the [English BLiMP](https://huggingface.co/datasets/nyu-mll/blimp) while extending and adapting it to Italian morphosyntax. 
It combines phenomena from the original BLiMP with additional contrasts derived from Italian linguistic literature and the [COnVERSA](https://www.hogrefe.com/it/shop/comprensione-delle-opposizioni-morfosintattiche-verbali-attraverso-la-scrittura.html) psycholinguistic assessment battery.

Rather than measuring downstream task performance, BLiMP-IT measures the acquisition of abstract morphosyntactic generalizations.

## Supported Tasks

The dataset is intended for:

- Language model evaluation through sentence probability comparison
- Minimal-pair acceptability evaluation
- Psycholinguistically motivated syntactic evaluation
- Cross-model comparison
- Cross-linguistic comparison with BLiMP and related benchmarks

Typical evaluation consists of assigning higher probability (or lower perplexity) to the grammatical member of each minimal pair.

---

# Dataset Structure

The repository contains one YAML configuration per linguistic phenomenon.

## Macro-phenomena

The benchmark covers four major linguistic domains.

| Macro-phenomenon | Number of phenomena |
|------------------|--------------------:|
| Agreement & Inflection | 31 |
| Verbal Class & Argument Structure | 10 |
| Pronouns | 25 |
| Non-local Dependencies | 64 |

Overall the benchmark contains **130 phenomena**.

Some phenomena originate from the original BLiMP benchmark, while others are adapted from the COnVERSA battery or specifically developed for Italian.

---

# Phenomena

## Agreement & Inflection

### Original BLiMP

- DP agreement
  - `blimp_it_original_agreement_and_inflection_dp`

### COnVERSA

- Determiner–noun agreement
  - `conversa_a_agreement_dp`
  - `conversa_a_agreement_in_dp`

- Subject–verb agreement
  - `conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_trans`
  - `conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_unacc`
  - `conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_unerg`
  - `conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_unerg_trans`
  - `conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_attraction`
  - `conversa_a_agreement_subject_verb_cumulative`
  - `conversa_a_agreement_verb_subject_unacc`

- Predicate agreement
  - `conversa_a_agreement_subject_nominal_predicate`
  - `conversa_a_agreement_subject_nominal_predicate_attraction`

- Past participle agreement
  - `conversa_a_agreement_past_particple_pre_v_cl`
  - `conversa_a_agreement_past_particple_unacc`
  - `conversa_a_past_particple_pre_v_cl`
  - `conversa_a_past_particple_unacc`

- Psych verbs
  - `conversa_a_agreement_psych_verbs_piacere`
  - `conversa_a_agreement_psych_verbs_preoccupare`
  - `conversa_a_psych_verbs_piacere`
  - `conversa_a_psych_verbs_preoccupare`

---

## Verbal Class & Argument Structure

### COnVERSA

- Theta-role assignment
  - `conversa_b_theta_roles`
  - `conversa_b_argument_structure_theta_roles`
  - `conversa_b_argument_structure_b_theta_roles`

- Auxiliary selection
  - `conversa_b_auxiliary_selection_transitives`
  - `conversa_b_auxiliary_selection_unaccusatives`
  - `conversa_b_auxiliary_selection_unergatives`
  - `conversa_b_auxiliary_selection_ditranstitives`
  - `conversa_b_auxiliary_selection_passive_active_diathesis`

- Argument structure variants
  - `conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_transitives`
  - `conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_unaccusatives`
  - `conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_unergatives`
  - `conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_ditranstitives`
  - `conversa_b_argument_structure_b_auxiliary_selection_passive_active_diathesis`

---

## Pronouns

### COnVERSA

- Personal pronouns
  - `conversa_c_pronouns_1_2_person_answers`
  - `conversa_c_pronouns_1_2_person_elicited_declaratives`

- Clitics
  - `conversa_c_pronouns_clitics_answering_with_acc_cl`
  - `conversa_c_pronouns_clitics_coordinating_with_acc_cl`
  - `conversa_c_pronouns_clitics_coordinating_with_dat_cl`

- Reflexives
  - `conversa_c_pronouns_reflexives_other`
  - `conversa_c_pronouns_reflexives_psych_verbs`
  - `conversa_c_pronouns_reflexives_unacc`

---

## Non-local Dependencies

### COnVERSA

- Yes/no questions
  - `conversa_d_answering_yes_no_questions`
- Why questions
  - `conversa_d_answering_why_questions`
- WH-questions
  - `conversa_d_answering_wh_adjunct_questions`
  - `conversa_d_answering_wh_argument_questions`
  - `conversa_d_answering_wh_argument_questions_number_disambiguation`
  - `conversa_d_answering_questions_with_rc_subj`
  - `conversa_d_answering_questions_with_rc_obj`
  - `conversa_d_question_formation_subject_position`

### Original BLiMP

- Relative clauses
  - `subject relatives`
  - `object relatives`
  - `gap vs no-gap conditions`

- WH extraction
  - `root extraction`
  - `embedded extraction`
  - `two-level embedded extraction`
  - `clitic fillers`
  - `NP fillers`
  - `demonstrative fillers`

- Across-the-board movement
  - `affirmative`
  - `interrogative`
  - `relative clause`
  - `gap/no-gap manipulations`

- Islands
  - `adjunct island`
  - `complex NP island`
  - `sentential subject island`
  - `WH island`
  - `left branch island`
  - `coordinate structure constraint`

- Parasitic gaps
  - `adjunct island variants`

---


# Data Fields

Each dataset configuration consists of sentence pairs containing:

- `sentence_good`
- `sentence_bad`
- grammaticality label
- linguistic phenomenon identifier
- minimal-pair metadata

---

# Data Creation

## Source

BLiMP-IT combines:

- manually designed minimal pairs
- automatic lexical generation using grammar templates
- manually annotated Italian lexicon
- human validation

The lexicon was derived from a 2.4M-token corpus of Italian child-directed and naturalistic language, annotated with Universal POS tags, morphological features, and animacy information. Automatic generation produces lexical variants while preserving the targeted morphosyntactic contrast.

---

# Dataset Characteristics

The benchmark follows two design principles:

1. **Minimality of contrasts**

   Each grammatical and ungrammatical sentence differs only in the manipulation responsible for (un)grammaticality.

2. **Linguistically meaningful errors**

   Ungrammatical sentences contain theoretically motivated morphosyntactic violations rather than random perturbations or word permutations.

---

# Intended Uses

BLiMP-IT is intended for

- evaluating Italian language models
- probing syntactic generalization
- comparing language models
- comparing humans and language models
- psycholinguistic research
- computational linguistics research

---

# Limitations

- The benchmark focuses exclusively on morphosyntax rather than semantics.
- Some generated sentences may be semantically unusual while remaining syntactically well formed.
- Human acceptability judgments currently exist only for subsets overlapping with COnVERSA.
- Automatic lexical generation is still expanding coverage across all phenomena.

---

# Citation

Bressan et al. (2026) [Language models assessment through linguistically motivated contrasts: A benchmark for Italian (BLiMP-IT)](https://doi.org/10.11576/glow-1242). Proceedings of GLOW 47. DOI: 10.11576/glow-1242

```bibtex
@inproceedings{bressan2026blimpit,
  title={Language models assessment through linguistically motivated contrasts: A benchmark for Italian (BLiMP-IT)},
  author={Bressan, Veronica and Barbini, Matilde and Fusco, Achille and Neri, Sofia and Piccini Bianchessi, Maria Letizia and Rossi, Sarah and Chesi, Cristiano},
  booktitle={Proceedings of GLOW 47},
  year={2026}
}
```

---

# License

CC BY-SA 4.0