Most linguistic theories consider language essentially as a means of communication between ontological individuals. Society is nothing but a voluntary social grouping which happened at some point in the history of our species. Language is then considered a communication tool which helps us encode concepts for the benefit of other individuals and linguistics concentrates on the processes which allow this feat in the speakers’ brains. Intercomprehension is quite often explained in terms of genetic endowment. For example Chomsky’s universal grammar explains syntax and semantic primes explain the construction of meaning. The hypothetical even metaphysical aspect of this point of view is quite often overlooked and language becomes a “code” which can be described in terms of logic and mathematics. And as thought precedes formulation, linguistic form and meaning are ontologically separated and this leads to the deeply ingrained mind/body dualism which lurches in the background of most theories.
In this text, we aim to show that language is one of the three environments («milieus») in which we live, the two others being society and nature, both humanised by and through language and constantly altered by human activity. Three dimensions can be distinguished in language. The first and foremost is anthropological. People speak to create links between themselves and language is then the locus of small talk, human relations, education, politics, ethics, values, gossip, etc. Language is also used for collective work and action when it makes use of its referential dimension: many words refer to elements of our experience and language is then the locus of work, the economy and collective action. Finally, language is also the locus of personal thought, creativity and individualisation. Yet this cognitive dimension of language can only develop when the anthropological and referential dimensions have been acquired: it is not cause but consequence.
Linguistic communities tend to fall back on themselves in what can be termed “ubuntus”, a Bantu word which names a community speaking a language within a culture. Becoming locked up inside ubuntus can be effectively avoided by language learning because languages open doors to others and allow for the offsetting of one’s own ubuntu. Multilingualism conditions knowledge and tolerance of the other.