I can actually add a response to this one! I haven’t thought on that component of language via recording.

On one hand, there is the assumption that you will change, even in the slightest form, from when you recorded the word and when you play it back. If that is true, then your understanding of the word would be different — even if it is just more depth to the understanding or your experience of the word and its nuances.

On the other hand, what you bring up is true about the identity debate in philosophy and psychologically. Based on how you define “psychological continuity” will determine your answer. If a ship is taken apart and rebuilt, is it the same ship? If your body after seven years is made up completely of new cells, are you still the same person?

I would answer that you are the same person, but that you have changed. Your identity has evolved, but you do have psychological continuity because the essence of your identity has survived and your shared memory as a being has been maintained. However, for language, it also means that you will have changes to your shared meaning. The hope would be that those changes would only supplement your previous understandings and make you a more effective communicator and a better human being.

Love this discussion — thanks so much for bringing this element into the conversation!