Then there are some linguists who feel that one of the more important functions of language is to lie.

Any pointers? I'd like to read some of them.

There's even a fellow at UC Santa Cruz, John M. Ellis (here's an interview), who does not think that language has anything to do with communication: see his Language, Thought, and Logic. Just plain weird. I blogged about it (here and there) a while back. I read his Against Deconstruction earlier which made more sense.

Ceci n'est pas un seing.