An Introduction to the Special Issue

As perhaps the most social of all the social primates, humans have an undeniable stake in regulating their communicative behavior, from the intrapersonal level to the global level. Communication is ubiquitous within the human species, but it is not enacted in a physical vacuum, any more than in a cultural, historical, or political vacuum. Just as social behavior shapes—and is shaped by—the cultural, historical, economic, political, and religious...