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One of the more perspicacious approaches to the function of language and probably the source of Mike's 'context is eveyerthing' was the later Wittgenstein. On a more practical and applied level with some relevance to the kind of sociocultural and linguistic project that seems to be hinted at here on the list is the work of James Gee on discourse analysis. Gee suggests, in line with most current thinking in a range of linguistic, sociological and anthropological fields that the meanings of words are always assembled on the spot in contexts of interpretation and production which are always dialogic. The sociocultural patterns that lie behind the assembled on the spot meanings for words - e.g when people talk about parenting, definitions of design ... will coalesce into a broad package of meanings differentiated by class, gender etc., into what anthropology calls cultural models and what we can call discourse models (and which partly correspnd to Wittgenstein's language games; Bourdieu's logic of practice). Ultimately these socio-culturally differentiated accounts of parenting, design etc., will then link into broader frameworks which Foucault called discourses, Wittgenstein called forms of life (or something similar). So much for how language (and words) actually work. Now one of the other thing that cultural and discourse studies (and some parts of sociology ...) have taught us is that thigns like the search for meanings - the desire for a 'simple definition' etc., is always interested (by that I mean motivated) and whatever is discovered or agreed upon should not be read off as some sort of final (ah releif) reading of how words correspond to the world (the kind of simplistic naive nominalism that Wittgenstein showed early in PI to be just that - naive). When language is not 'working' in the kind of insturmental way it normally does (hinted at by Terry) but is extracted and set in the kind of pedestal that SOME philosophy still likes to do people come up with all sorts of fanciful arrangements. Langueg use historically (diachronically) and currently (synchronically) is always in a state of temporary stability and embodies souvenirs of the past an hints at the future in its forms and uses. These facts (and some of the other stuff above) should not be forgotten when playing language games. Gavin Melles ----- Swinburne University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code: 00111D NOTICE This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and intended only for the use of the addressee. They may contain information that is privileged or protected by copyright. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, distribution, printing, copying or use is strictly prohibited. The University does not warrant that this e-mail and any attachments are secure and there is also a risk that it may be corrupted in transmission. It is your responsibility to check any attachments for viruses or defects before opening them. If you have received this transmission in error, please contact us on +61 3 9214 8000 and delete it immediately from your system. We do not accept liability in connection with computer virus, data corruption, delay, interruption, unauthorised access or unauthorised amendment. Please consider the environment before printing this email.