Distribution-aware Language Neuron Identification in Multilingual Large Language Models
Updated 5 h ago · first seen 11 Sept 2026
paper_01M294G4F0KMVWX89T3DFRZJHM
- Published
- 11 Sept 2026
- T1 · 5 h ago
- arXiv
- 2609.10993
- T1 · 5 h ago
- Category
- cs.CL
- T1 · 5 h ago
Abstract
Multilingual large language models (mLLMs) contain a small fraction of feed-forward neurons that are sensitive to particular languages, commonly termed language-specific neurons. Existing work measures language specificity using the entropy of each neuron's language-wise probabilities of being active, where a neuron is considered active when its activation value is positive. However, this approach may not fully capture the multilingual nature of mLLMs, where language representations are distributional and mutually related. We propose Distribution-aware Language Neuron selection, which leverages pairwise relationships between per-language activation distributions over the full activation range, including negative values. Specifically, we quantify each neuron's language specificity by clustering languages using pairwise overlap coefficients between their activation distributions. Across two mLLMs and two held-out corpora, our identifier more effectively isolates language-specific causal effects, yielding up to 4.9$\times$ higher on-target language damage per neuron while preserving off-target language performance.
Authors 6
Minjun Kim, Inho Won, Junghun Yuk, Dongyeon Kim, Jihyo Kim, KyungTae Lim
Specification
- Official page
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 5 h agohigh
- Arxiv announce type
- new
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 5 h agohigh
- arXiv id
- 2609.10993
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 5 h agohigh
- Categories
- cs.CL
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 5 h agohigh
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 5 h agohigh
- Primary category
- cs.CL
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 5 h agohigh
- Published
- 11 Sept 2026
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 5 h agohigh
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Provenance
Attributed facts
9
Source tiers
T19
Freshest observation
5 h ago
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None
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- Authors
- Minjun Kim, Inho Won, Junghun Yuk
As of
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Claim history
Official pageofficial_url1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10993 | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Abstractabstract1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multilingual large language models (mLLMs) contain a small fraction of feed-forward neurons that are sensitive to particular languages, commonly termed language-specific neurons. Existing work measures language specificity using the entropy of each neuron's language-wise probabilities of being active, where a neuron is considered active when its activation value is positive. However, this approach may not fully capture the multilingual nature of mLLMs, where language representations are distributional and mutually related. We propose Distribution-aware Language Neuron selection, which leverages pairwise relationships between per-language activation distributions over the full activation range, including negative values. Specifically, we quantify each neuron's language specificity by clustering languages using pairwise overlap coefficients between their activation distributions. Across two mLLMs and two held-out corpora, our identifier more effectively isolates language-specific causal effects, yielding up to 4.9$\times$ higher on-target language damage per neuron while preserving off-target language performance. | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Arxiv announce typearxiv_announce_type1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| new | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
arXiv idarxiv_id1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2609.10993 | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Categoriescategories1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cs.CL | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
PDFpdf_url1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.10993 | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Primary categoryprimary_category1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cs.CL | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Publishedpublished_at1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Sept 2026 | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Claims are temporal and append-only: a new observation closes the previous claim (valid_to) instead of overwriting it. Conflicting claims from different sources are kept side by side and flagged — never averaged. Methodology →
- New paperPaperDistribution-aware Language Neuron Identification in Multilingual Large Language Models
New paper: Distribution-aware Language Neuron Identification in Multilingual Large Language Models
arxiv
| Source | Document | Type | Tier | Last observed | Snapshots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| arXiv (Atom API + RSS) | rss.arxiv.org/rss/cs.CL | feed | T1· Official | 5 h ago | 1 |
Tier 1 = official/primary, 2 = quality secondary, 3 = community, 4 = unverified. Every snapshot is archived; see all sources and the methodology.