I don't think there's much of a shift there. You're talking about fields which never had much of a connection with generative linguistics, and where there's no logical reason to think that results in generative linguistics should be particularly relevant or helpful. (Who ever thought that Barriers would have anything to tell us about computational anthropology?)

Generative linguistics is in fact increasingly relevant to NLP, since people are moving towards more complex language models. That's not to say that cutting edge research in syntax is going to be helpful to people trying to solve practical NLP problems, but by the same token, string theory isn't much use if you're trying to build a bridge. It tends to be the basic and well-established results within a field that have useful applications outside it.