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HE MAJOR reorientation of recent theory and observation in sociology of language emerged with the overthrow of the Wundtian notion that language has as its function the" expression" of prior elements within the individual. The postulate underlying modern study of language is the simple one that we must approach linguistic behavior, not by referring it to private states in individuals, but by observing its social function of coordinating diverse actions. Rather than expressing something which is prior and in the person, language is taken by other persons as an indicator of future actions.'