Of course, a small group of people, even just two people, could decide to give words novel meanings. E.g. If he is right, and most philosophers think he is, then Humpty’s claim that he can decide for himself what words mean, is wrong. In his Philosophical Investigations (published in 1953), Ludwig Wittgenstein argues against the idea of a “private language.” Language, he maintains, is essentially social, and words get their meanings from the way they are used by communities of language users.
‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean–neither more nor less.’ ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean different things–that’s all.’ ‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master–that’s all’ ‘Of course you don’t–till I tell you. I meant “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!”’ ‘But “glory” doesn’t mean “a nice knock-down argument”, Alice objected. ‘And only one for birthday presents, you know. There’s glory for you!’ ‘I don’t know what you mean by “glory”,’ Alice said. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson passed on at 65 years of age on 14 January 1898.‘…and that shows that there are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents––‘ ‘Certainly,’ said Alice. His is known for the books, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (1865) and its sequel, “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There” (1871), as well as the poems, “The Hunting of the Snark” and “Jabberwocky,” all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. He became a writer, a mathematician, a logician, an Anglican deacon, and a photographer. Lewis Carroll is a pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who was born on 27 January 1832 in England. I pulled and pushed and kicked and knocked.
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