language, even when taking into Chomskys hypothesis of the biological ground of 'Deep Grammar', is primarily public: The English language is not built into our minds, it is 'out there'. I come into the world, find language and the use of language and 'learn' this.
But is language is an extension of the mind? Isn't it better seen as the medium of exchange rather than part of the mind itself. When I look into myself, I don't see myself using language; when I do it is to write or to talk and then is that no different to thinking about how to use the controls of a tractor when you want it to move in a particular direction?
But when I look at someone else, her use of language, its idiosyncratic expression is so much her, that I would ascribe it to her. But should I say to her personality, but not her mind; that is I should make a distinction between mind and personality?