Theories of language usually deal with relatively 'pure' instantiations of language; therefore, they are not involved with something like laughter. What cannot be expressed in language univocally, is no part of the research topic. Because of this exclusion of laughter, a serene seriousness reigns within 'language'. Both 'ideal' languages and everyday 'communication' presuppose a quite abstract, univocal society. This theoretical promotion of seriousness can be broken from the point of view of Wittgenstein's scepticism with regard to rules and Saussure's research of anagrams.
Niels Helsloot
