Responsa fragments to an ongoing discussion

Knowledge is not a gain, but a bargain, an exchange.

No, we may not add nor remove sounds at will, not even for convenience's sake. They make a difference. Language is a pure mean, it has only form, no content.  Any and every difference make a difference.

If we hear the sounds, but not the words, we’ll not understand each other because understanding, first, is not an intentional action, a will, a volition. On the contrary, understanding happens to us, against our very will. We understand language because our existence is linguistic, not because we chose to do so: it is the other way around: language chose us.