ABSTRACT
We may regard ourselves as belonging to a certain category of race, or being at home in a certain place, but for some mysterious reason we don’t simply have a language. We tend to believe that our language is us – that it inhabits us and we inhabit it. This is why Miranda’s claim that by teaching Caliban language he might “know his own meaning”, is so significant. Language introduces us to an identifiable world, initiates us into a family, providing those most basic concepts – ‘me’, ‘us’, ‘them’. Language itself identifies us, announces us, even, it seems, defines us, defines the space of being itself. Our language “is not just a language,” says Edgar Thompson, “it is our language, the language of human beings”.
