Language serves many functions, but in particular: 1) Language as communication: language is used to transfer mental models (or generally, information) from one mind to another. Requires multiple agents, theory of mind, and having something to talk about (grounding).
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3) Language as operating system for thinking: even in the absence of other agents or an environment to effect, people use language to crystalize & structure their thoughts. Perhaps the most interesting function of language. Requires a way of generating pre-language "thoughts".
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There are a few more as well. I think a system can be said to be capable of "language understanding" if it can use language to perform at least one of these functions, preferably all three. Naturally, all of these require strong forms of external grounding.
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