T

I think one of the greatest things anyone has ever asked me is: "What does language require of you?"

Language, and mutual understanding, is often taken for granted, as though meaning is somehow packaged by our words and all it takes is someone else to unpack them simply by hearing them. In that way, we require a hell of a lot of language, such as performing the duty of creating meaning (which is in itself a hell of a duty). But we can't simply just say whatever we want (clear altogether is which too); language requires of us something too. But what is that, and when?

Thinking about this is one thing--language as I've discussed it now becomes not just a human invention that one uses but also a human invention that uses one--but what are the consequences of such a line of thought? What does language require of us? What is it that us are trying to say? How can we be heard and who can hear us?