been poisoned. One might even use the word as code by members of a secret society. Wittgenstein does not limit the application of his concept of language games to word-meaning. He also applies it to sentence-meaning. For example, the sentence "Moses did not exist" (§79) can mean various things. Wittgenstein argues that independently of use the sentence does not yet 'say' anything. It is 'meaningless' in the sense of not being significant for a particular purpose. It only acquires significance if we fix it within some context of use. Thus, it fails to say anything because the sentence as such does not yet determine some particular use. The sentence is only meaningful when it is used to say something. For instance, it can be used so as to say that no person or historical figure fits the set of descriptions attributed to the person that goes by the name of "Moses". But it can also mean that the leader of the Israelites was not called Moses. Or that there cannot have been anyone who accomplished all that the Bible relates of Moses, etc. What the sentence means thus depends on its context of use. The term ‘language-game’ is used to refer to: Fictional examples of language use that are simpler than our own everyday language. (e.g. PI 2) Simple uses of language with which children are first taught language (training in language). Specific regions of our language with their own grammars and relations to other language-games. All of a natural language seen as comprising a family of language-games. These meanings are not separated from each other by sharp boundaries, but blend into one another (as suggested by the idea of family resemblance). The concept is based on the following analogy: The rules of language are analogous to the rules of games; thus saying something in a language is analogous to making a move in a game. The analogy between a language and a game demonstrates that words have meaning depending on the uses made of them in the various and multiform activities of human life. (The concept is not meant to suggest that there is anything trivial about language, or that language is "just a game".) Examples The classic example of a language-game is the so-called "builder's language" introduced in §2 of the Philosophical Investigations: Later "this" and "there" are added (with functions analogous to the function these words have