This paper examines language in a factory setting and focuses on: (1) identical terms which workers use in different contexts, (2) terms that are discarded or changed, (3) different terms that express opposite units in a conceptual category but are labels for identical objects, and (4) terms which represent finer discriminations within conceptual categories. The paper shows that: (1) the manner in which some workers discriminate between categories reveals their position in the production flow, (2) terms are lost if ideas relating to them are lost to the group, and some undergo a psychological regrouping if there is competition between homophonous forms in overlapping work environments, (3) operational links determine the extent to which workers share conceptual categories and linguistic terms referring to those categories, and (4) workers who are closely associated with particular operations are capable of making precise distinctions between conceptual units. The discussion shows that studying language in a work setting contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between social forces, cognitive processes and communicative behavior. (Author)