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"from words to worlds"

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This short historical anecdote -- from an introduction to the Open Dialogue approach to psychotherapy, seems relevant to our interests here:
Developmental psychologists Lev Vygotsky and Colwyn Trevarthen describe a process by which the caregiver and baby enter a dialogue straight after birth. Communicating through verbalizations, facial expressions, movements, and mutual attention to the world of objects, they begin to influence each other’s emotional states and behaviours. 
There is a gradual maturation of this dialogue, from the use of objects, to signs, and then to language. The mother’s voice is gradually internalized by the child, forming an inner speech through which it regulates its own emotions and behaviour. 
Throughout this process, words become building blocks for complex, higher mental functions. From words come our thoughts. 
The words that form our thoughts are not static symbols. For Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin, words carry only fragments of meaning, with a more complete meaning arising only through an exchange of words (dialogue) with others. This could mean that our language, our thoughts, and our world are constructed largely through our interpersonal relationships, rather than on empirical truths.
The continuation into psychotherapy stuff may fit with Rueschian thinking, indeed, I'd be surprised if there isn't some direct connection with Ruesch and the Open Dialogue folks.  (Although, having read a couple of their books, I can't remember reading about one at the moment.)

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