Keywords
Abstract
This paper explores the emergence of linguistic inequality in the age of voice technology, focusing on how virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant reflect and reinforce socio-linguistic hierarchies. While these systems are often celebrated for their convenience and accessibility, they are primarily trained to understand and respond to standardized varieties of English—usually American or British—while struggling with regional accents, non-native pronunciation, or minority languages. Drawing on sociolinguistic theory, human-computer interaction research, and algorithmic bias studies, the paper argues that voice AI is not linguistically neutral, but embedded with ideological assumptions that marginalize diverse speakers and limit equitable access to technology.
References
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