Language, Society and AI Large Language Models: Challenges for the Sociology of Language
Current trends suggests that we are on a new edge of the revolution from print to digital capitalism (Anderson 1991, Coulmas 2022). Although the incresing number of documents on the topic, the understanding of large language models nearly lacks original approaches from the sociology of language regarding this technological change. Some disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, especially those significantly affected, like Translation and Interpretation Studies, have recently turned to studying this phenomenon due to the risks of re-skilling and job displacement that LLMs entail. Nevertheless, based on recent reviews of scientific literature by our research group, the sociology of language, the economics of language, or sociolinguistics have not yet analyzed this phenomenon with enought emphasis nor academic discussion.
Based on 131 documents obtained from a systematic literatature review on "social sciences", "LLMs" and "Generative AI" (among other keywords and filters we will detail), in this presentation we identify five groups of contributions with relevant implcations for the sociology of language, which we classify and name as follows: a) LLMs and Print/Digital Capitalism (Coulmas 2022); b) Division of Labor, Work, and LLMs; c) AI Symbolic representation, power and identity, d) human-computer ethics and common sense building in the AI digital sphera, and e) Language Policy and Planning, including language diversity, in the Age of AI.
By exploring these areas, we aim to shed light on the implications of LLMs from a sociology of language perspective and encourage a deeper engagement with this emerging technological phenomenon.