Language machines: Toward a linguistic anthropology of large language models

Abstract

Large language models (LLMs) challenge long-standing assumptions in linguistics and linguistic anthropology by generating human-like language without relying on rule-based structures. This introduction to the special issue Language Machines calls for renewed engagement with LLMs as socially embedded language technologies. We trace the intellectual genealogy that led linguistic anthropology to sideline such technologies, highlighting how disciplinary boundaries and language ideologies shaped this absence. Arguing for the field's unique potential to analyze the semiotic, interactional, and ideological dimensions of LLMs, we invite future contributions that expand linguistic anthropology's scope and relevance in the age of machine-mediated communication.