THEY used to say that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness. Not at all, it’s a very sense-able thing to do.  

But does one address oneself as “you”  or “I?” Writer Ian McEwan pointed out that the self became fashionable late last century in the self-help universe, but Freud rattled his stick along the railings of the mind many years earlier, using mythological and religious constructs to define them.  

In fact, there are many selves to talk to. There is your self and the one(s) others see but, in glorious isolation, they can be brought together and talk to each other. Which is what people in solitary confinement do to keep sane and to keep language honed and toned.