ABSTRACT
One of the principal reasons why language plays a part in the political life of most societies derives from another defining aspect of language not mentioned in the Introduction. Not only does language have an instrumental role as a means of communication, it also has an extremely important symbolic role as marker of identity. How else can we explain the fact that although humans communicate through language, they have allowed the creation of endless barriers by sustaining thousands of mutually incomprehensible modes of communication? Why has one lingua franca not emerged as the only normal way that humankind communicates? The answer must lie in an innate need and desire to protect difference across groups and communities. In this way language is inextricably bound up with defining this difference.
