Talking to Extraordinary Objects: Folktales Offer Analogies for Interacting with Technology

2026-01-10

arXiv.org

AI Summary

This study investigates how to achieve natural language interaction without relying on anthropomorphic assumptions. By analyzing dialogic patterns between humans and extraordinary objects—such as talking artifacts or sentient natural entities—in folk narratives, the research decouples linguistic interaction from anthropocentric presuppositions. Integrating folklore studies with human–computer interaction theory, the work employs cultural analysis and analogical reasoning to systematically distill a repertoire of memorable, non-anthropomorphic interaction paradigms. These findings offer culturally grounded, non-human-centered references and innovative design pathways for speech and language technologies, thereby expanding the conceptual and practical boundaries of human–computer interaction.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices
• Natural Language Processing: Conversational AI/Dialog Systems
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling and simulation for interactive and conversational systems
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Assisted, interactive, and conversational search

Abstract

Speech and language are valuable for interacting with technology. It would be ideal to be able to decouple their use from anthropomorphization, which has recently met an important moment of reckoning. In the world of folktales, language is everywhere and talking to extraordinary objects is not unusual. This overview presents examples of the analogies that folktales offer. Extraordinary objects in folktales are diverse and also memorable. Language capacity and intelligence are not always connected to humanness. Consideration of folktales can offer inspiration and insight for using speech and language for interacting with technology.

Problem

• speech interaction
• anthropomorphism
• folktales
• extraordinary objects
• language and technology

Innovation

• folktales
• speech interaction
• deanthropomorphization
• extraordinary objects
• language and technology