There may be some duality on the use of the word "language". If it is used in the literal sense, I agree. In another case (i.e., if you were referring to langua

There may be some duality on the use of the word "language". If it is used in the literal sense, I agree. In another case (i.e., if you were referring to languages and their execution environments), I beg to differ. For the end user of a programming environment, differences on syntax are mostly tangible in the aesthetic sense. Some languages are more readable or expressive, indeed, but, in the end, syntax has something to do with our perceptions on how beautifully the code lays out. Execution environments, on the other hand, are tailored for a class of problems, incorporating useful abstractions. Yes, I know it is not so evident in a world where we have general-purpose programming environments by the dozen; when we talk about domain-specific languages, this makes a lot of sense. They can only gain expressiveness if they can represent bigger abstractions with fewer words.