ABSTRACT
Language researchers have long studied the representative function of language, that is, its use to describe the facts and phenomena of the world. Many valuable analyses investigating the formal aspects of linguistic systems show that phonological, morphological, and syntactic regularities are inadequate for clarifying the complexity of language activity. Recent developments in functional approaches to language and progress in interactionist or pragmatic research have put new emphasis on communicative function. Language use, then, may be considered as a form of social conduct, and the meaning of linguistic expressions as built within the interpersonal dimension. This is a dynamic process achieved by the joint constructive activity of those taking part in communicative interaction. Advances in linguistic theory have made possible not only an account of the plurifunctionality of linguistic terms but also of their polysemy and the ambiguities thus generated. This is an opportune entry into the study of meaning.
