Large Language Models as Phenomenotechniques for Linguistics
Abstract
With the help of Bachelard’s concept of phenomenotechnique – meaning an artificial, technological set-up that forces a certain part of reality to reveal itself in a way that can be scientifically observed – this paper tries to theorize large language models (LLMs) as a kind of “epistemological mirrors” that make symbolic language (as a foundation of culture) observable in an unprecedented way. Consequently, LLMs have (besides their known and attested commercial value) immense epistemological value for the humanities since they allow for an alternative way of studying language learning, generation, and structure that can supplement classic linguistic techniques. LLMs can thus be used to reassess the relevance of existing linguistic theories and update them as well as to start developing new theories of language. The paper develops its thesis through a refutation of a common objection to LLMs – that they have no “true” understanding of language since they possess no relation to the outside world – and by showing that real-world relations are irrelevant for human language as well. Consequently, linguistic theories (such as structuralism) that understood language outside of such a framework are once again relevant for a new understanding of symbolic language and culture that LLMs allow.