Beginning with the differences between object relatedness and object relations, the author explicates the developmental line for the acquisition of language. The transition, made through internalization, from "psychological intentional communication as it develops from the matrix of biological communication, is especially illuminating." The purposes of language are outlined: (1) to express affect; (2) to communicate to the object; and (3) to communicate within the mind between structures and between internal objects. Five stages of language development are seen in the context of the early mother-child relationship.