Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri’s language options: how voice assistants reproduce monoglossic language ideologies

Abstract

Voice assistants are increasingly pervasive and popular. Yet, little attention has been paid to how language is conceptualized in voice assistants. My study addresses this gap by demonstrating how the language framings of Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri reinforce monoglossic language ideologies from the disciplinary lens of language policy. Through a qualitative content analysis of the voice assistants' language options and related corporate and texts, this study shows the endurance of standard language ideologies, official and de facto national language policies, English linguistic imperialism, native speakerism, monolingual norms, and language as commodity. This paper aligns with the special issue by understanding voice assistants as shaped by human language traditions, cultural values, and power asymmetries. Voice assistants’ language options are a powerful mechanism for reproducing hegemonic language beliefs, expressing the capitalist desires of technology companies. The recirculation of dominant language ideologies will continue to impact language practices, reproduce social inequities, and generate new material conditions, forms of language labor, and configurations of governmentality.