Introduction; Defining Keywords

Historically, in the social evolution of humanity, possibly the two most decisive factors in human progress have been labour and language; as humans we are unique in two ways, we are tool-bearing and talkative animals.1 These two conditions have been however contingent on the production and reproduction of human life itself. But this relationship is dialectical, or more simply stated, interdependent. Labour has determined the material basis for the maintenance of human life and the proliferation of the species, while language has been the prime cultural product of humanity which has enabled the creation of a social communication system on which the rest of culture is constructed. Language carries and expresses culture.