Abstract
Language defines human existence. Yet defining language is a fraught project. I
use the term "language" to refer to a specific mode of information transfer. First, it is a
communicative mode. By communication I mean the information transfer serves a
function, that is, an activity that occurs because it has increased the evolutionary
fitness of ancestors. Secondly, while all communication is governed by norms, human
communication, as opposed to biological communication, is governed by norms that
have evolved within the learned traditions of individual cultures. The meaning of an
assertion in a culture’s language is the set of commitments to which that culture holds
its speakers when they utter that assertion. Syntax has appeared in recent evolution
to facilitate and enrich the communicative function, but it is a secondary aspect of
language. The defining characteristic of human communication, of "language," -- is its
capacity to constitute meaning.