Synthetic Linguistic Agency: How an Embodied Mortal Agent Learns Linguistic Affordances through Consequential Social Experience

Sixin Chen; Taizhou Chen

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2608.27843

Synthetic Linguistic Agency: How an Embodied Mortal Agent Learns Linguistic Affordances through Consequential Social Experience

Sixin Chen·Taizhou Chen

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Contemporary language models can converse fluently and influence human decisions, yet their exchanges do not enter a continuing, vulnerable life of their own. Linguistic-agency theory identifies this missing connection as linguistic agency and characterizes it through embodiment, linguistic participation, and precariousness: a body that acts and bears consequences, interaction that changes both agent and partner, and a future that can be sustained or lost. Two coordinated studies examine how this organization can appear in artificial systems. First, we translate these relations into inspectable criteria for Synthetic Linguistic Agency (SLA) and identify several existing SLA systems. Second, building on Homeostatically Regulated Reinforcement Learning, we develop a mortality-grounded linguistic-reinforcement-learning model and instantiate it in an Embodied Mortal Agent (EMA). The EMA learns how ways of speaking change a partner's willingness to protect it and chooses expressions by considering what those responses mean for its remaining life. Controlled experiments show that linguistic choices depend on the EMA's body and social history, change partner behavior, and adapt through experience with particular partners. When bodily consequences persist, linguistic choices alter the future of the same life; when the body is reset, their social effects remain but no longer shape continued viability. The resulting EMA exhibits SLA under our operational definition. This work motivates further research on synthetic empathy and strategic human-AI interaction: how artificial agents with persistent bodies, histories, and futures might develop and express empathy, and how people might care for, negotiate with, or govern them.

Explore related subjects

cs.CL cs.MA

Keep this discovery

BibTeX RIS

Sixin Chen, Taizhou Chen. 2026-08-28. Synthetic Linguistic Agency: How an Embodied Mortal Agent Learns Linguistic Affordances through Consequential Social Experience. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.27843

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

Discover connections

cs.CL subject cs.MA subject

Connections use source metadata and explicit phrase matches, not verified experimental comparisons.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related discoveries

arXiv2026

MA-RAG: Multi-Agent Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Query-Driven Summarization of Longitudinal Parkinson's Disease Assessments

Accurate interpretation of single-visit and longitudinal clinical assessments for Parkinson's disease is time-consuming and often depends on specialist expertise. Although large language models (LLMs) can generate natural language summaries, they frequently lack domain-specific clinical grounding and struggle to produce factually correct and temporally consistent responses for structured longitudinal assessment data. To address these limitations, we propose MA-RAG, a query-driven multi-agent retrieval-augmented generation framework that decomposes clinical reasoning into domain-specialized agents, combines structured fact extraction, and synthesizes clinically grounded summaries through a final verification stage. The framework supports four clinical analysis tasks: single-session, trajectory, comparison, and cohort summarization. We evaluate MA-RAG using objective metrics, namely Fact Precision, Hallucination Rate, Temporal Fidelity, and Semantic Similarity, together with subjective evaluations conducted by clinical experts. Compared to Traditional, RAG-only, and Single-agent RAG baselines, MA-RAG substantially improves factual correctness, achieving up to a 122% relative increase in Fact Precision (from 0.436 to 0.990) and reducing the Hallucination Rate by up to 98% (from 0.564 to 0.010), while consistently receiving top ratings from clinical experts for organization and clinical usefulness. These results demonstrate that domain-specialized multi-agent reasoning enables reliable query-driven summarization of structured longitudinal clinical assessment data.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2026

Language-Guided Tuning: Configuration Optimization for Automated ML Research

Configuration optimization remains a critical bottleneck in machine learning, requiring coordinated tuning across model architecture, training strategy, feature engineering, and hyperparameters. Traditional approaches treat these dimensions independently and lack interpretability, while recent automated methods struggle with dynamic adaptability and semantic reasoning about optimization decisions. We introduce Language-Guided Tuning (LGT), a framework that employs multi-agent Large Language Models to automatically optimize configurations through natural language reasoning. We apply textual feedback signals that complement numerical optimization by providing semantic understanding of training dynamics and configuration interdependencies. LGT coordinates three specialized agents: an Advisor that proposes configuration changes, an Evaluator that assesses progress, and an Optimizer that refines the decision-making process, creating a self-improving feedback loop. Through comprehensive evaluation on seven diverse datasets, LGT demonstrates substantial improvements over traditional optimization methods while maintaining high interpretability.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2026

Large Language Models and Evolutionary Computation: A Critical Review of Bidirectional Interaction, Automated Algorithm Design, and Co-Adaptive Systems

Large Language Models (LLMs) and Evolutionary Computation (EC) are increasingly being combined to support automated optimization, algorithm design, and adaptive decision-making. This survey reviews the bidirectional interaction between these two paradigms and examines how their complementary strengths can be leveraged in hybrid intelligent systems. First, we analyze how EC can enhance LLM-based systems through prompt optimization, hyperparameter tuning, and architecture search. Second, we review how LLMs can im- prove EC by supporting metaheuristic design, surrogate reasoning, adaptive operator control, and heuristic generation. We further discuss emerging co-adaptive frameworks in which LLMs and EC interact through iterative feedback loops. Beyond summarizing recent developments, the survey provides a structured perspec- tive on interaction mechanisms, application patterns, and methodological challenges, including computational cost, reproducibility, interpretability, benchmarking, and generalization. The paper concludes by outlining open research questions and future directions for developing more robust, transparent, and scalable LLM-EC systems.

cs.NE↗