ABSTRACT
It is a truism that meaningful communication is unthinkable in the absence of agreement regarding the meaning of the words used by the communicators. The potency of communicators understanding one another's language and the deleterious consequences of the absence of such understanding are well illustrated in the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. As related in Genesis,Chapter 11, the people of the earth had one language, and they said: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” When the Lord saw what they were up to, he said: “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; … and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us … confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.” As a result, the building of the city was abandoned, and the people were scattered over all the earth.
