[2605.30443] Cross-Lingual Steering for Figurative Language Generation
[Submitted on 28 May 2026]
Title:Cross-Lingual Steering for Figurative Language Generation
View a PDF of the paper titled Cross-Lingual Steering for Figurative Language Generation, by Linfeng Liu and 3 other authors
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Abstract:Multilingual large language models can generate figurative language, but whether the internal signals driving this behavior are language-specific or reusable across languages is unclear. Using activation steering as a probe, we estimate a direction for a figurative category from figurative--literal activation differences in one language and apply it during generation. Across five figurative categories, six languages, and four multilingual LLMs, these directions steer reliably within their own language, most robustly for metaphor and simile. More importantly, they transfer across languages: a direction learned in one increases the target behavior when applied to another, with German among the most receptive targets. Going further, directions assembled from other languages can match or even surpass a target language's own native direction, while removing this shared component weakens native steering. Together, these results provide direct evidence of a reusable but target-dependent cross-lingual signal for figurative generation.
Comments: 40 pages, 7 figures
Subjects:
Computation and Language (cs.CL)
Cite as: arXiv:2605.30443 [cs.CL]
(or arXiv:2605.30443v1 [cs.CL] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.30443
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
Submission history
From: Linfeng Liu [view email] [v1] Thu, 28 May 2026 18:14:43 UTC (204 KB)
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