Linguistic Capital and Cultural Boundaries in Artificial Intelligence: From the Digital Divide to Symbolic Sovereignty
This paper investigates how large language models (LLMs) restructure global linguistic hierarchies by introducing the concept of symbolic sovereignty—the capacity of a language to shape meaning, discourse, and cultural visibility within AI systems. This concept is grounded in a key empirical observation: certain languages, such as Chinese in DeepSeek, are not only used more frequently but also serve as default generative frameworks, guiding semantic construction across multiple outputs. This privileged role is evident in how Chinese manages stylistic variation, initiates rhetorical structures, and frames meaning for other languages. Rather than mere technical inclusion, such dominance constitutes a form of symbolic power.
To support this claim, the paper combines semiotic theory and comparative analysis of multilingual outputs from ChatGPT and DeepSeek. Drawing from Saussure's structural linguistics, Barthes's mythologies, Eco's open systems, and Bourdieu's linguistic capital, the study reveals how AI models embed linguistic hierarchies into their internal architecture. As a response to this emerging power structure, the paper introduces the ethical notion of the right to linguistic generation, advocating structural parity in model design, semantic flexibility, and cultural representation. Ultimately, the paper argues that generative AI is not merely a technical tool but a regime of meaning production, where language is not just spoken—it speaks back, shaping who gets to define the world and how.
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