The major purpose of this seventh-grade teaching unit on language is to expand the students' understanding of language as central to human activity. The purposes, methods, and commonalities of such disciplines as anthropology, psychology, linguistics, and rhetoric are defined within the framework of language study to suggest the scope of communications. The nature of communication breakdown is examined in James Marshall's "Walkabout" and Margaret Bowen's "Return to Laughter," and possible solutions to communication problems are indicated in a series of hypothetical letters written by a young man struggling with a hypothetical language in a country and culture widely different from his own. These letters are presented as written to the boy's uncle, who, in turn, relays back information and help from rhetoricians, anthropologists, and psycholinguists. The letters as well as sample lectures, discussion questions, procedural notes, and suggested activities cover a wide variety of information about the relationships between culture and language development. (JB)