Joint Epistemic Engineering in Language Use and Acquisition

How do infants acquire their first words without any prior knowledge of language? And how do they later use language so effectively, despite considerable differences in individual experience and expertise? This chapter argues that language acquisition draws on the same foundational capacity that supports adult language use: the ability to construct shared frames of reference with others. We suggest that this capacity, essential for transforming behavior into communicative acts, begins to emerge before speech. We further propose that it not only enables the social acquisition of language but also motivates language’s very existence as a tool for efficiently aligning understanding and navigating increasingly complex social landscapes.