Even with the recent expansion of notions of therapeutic action beyond the verbal, there remains something mysterious, powerful, and special about verbal activity in psychoanalytic treatment. These special powers of language are encompassed in our notions of interpretation. This paper begins with a synthesis of self psychological notions of interpretation, specifying the ways that interpretation contributes to the structuralization of the self. Then, in order to more fully explain the power of these kinds of interpretive activities, the paper moves to analyze some of the properties of spoken language, which is the way verbal interpretations are communicated in treatment. These properties include tone, the conveyance of affect, and other features of spoken language that underwrite semantic meaning. This understanding further illuminates the active properties of interpretation. Theoretical and clinical implications are considered.