2. 1 Language revisited: Williams’ Definition of Language

• Language as the means of meaning production

• Fundamentally social character of all language: The paradox of language.

• Language is the basis of culture

• The meaning created by language tends to carry the value imprint of the language/culture which produced it. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

• Communication as communion, communication as community.

2.2 Language as a public resource: Toward a political economy of language --- who gets to participate in the production of those values.

2.3 Language as technology (means of meaning production): The first communication technology.

2.4 Considering communication technologies: the newspaper, the magazine, the book, the film, the recording industry, the computer.