ABSTRACT
This chapter closes the book by extrapolating from the arguments presented thus far to more general implications for theorizing about language and communication. Language is shown to be an assemblage that emerges from a wider assemblage of communicative practices. Different ways of constructing the linguistic assemblage are therefore possible. This raises the question of whether the only available epistemological stance towards these different linguistic assemblages has to be that of radical relativism, where there is no viewpoint from which one might evaluate the plausibility and desirability of one linguistic assemblage over another. Radical relativism would suggest that we cede any attempt at all to exert epistemic authority. This chapter shows how epistemic authority can remain both relevant and necessary.
