• Computer Science > Computation and Language [Submitted on 2 Feb 2026] Title:Measuring Pragmatic Influence in Large Language Model Instructions View PDF HTML (experimental)Abstract:It is not only what we ask large language models (LLMs) to do that matters, but also how we prompt • Phrases like “This is urgent” or “As your supervisor” can shift model behavior without altering task content • We study this effect as pragmatic framing, contextual cues that shape directive interpretation rather than task specification • While prior work exploits such cues for prompt optimization or probes them as security vulnerabilities, pragmatic framing itself has not been treated as a measurable property of instruction following • Measuring this influence systematically remains challenging, requiring controlled isolation of framing cues • We introduce a framework with three novel components: directive-framing decomposition separating framing context from task specification; a taxonomy organizing 400 instantiations of framing into 13 strategies across 4 mechanism clusters; and priority-based measurement that quantifies influence through observable shifts in directive prioritization

Article Summaries:

  • Computer Science > Computation and Language [Submitted on 2 Feb 2026] Title:Measuring Pragmatic Influence in Large Language Model Instructions View PDF HTML (experimental)Abstract:It is not only what we ask large language models (LLMs) to do that matters, but also how we prompt. Phrases like “This is urgent” or “As your supervisor” can shift model behavior without altering task content. We study this effect as pragmatic framing, contextual cues that shape directive interpretation rather than task specification. While prior work exploits such cues for prompt optimization or probes them as secur

Sources: