Dead Tongue in dreams
Speech as voluntary act — choosing the words you actually use.
How dead changes the reading
The base reading of Tongue
A tongue in a dream is the dictionary's image of speech as a voluntary act. A tongue tied is the dream's clearest image of a sentence that has been forming in you and refusing to come out. A tongue moving freely in the dream is the dictionary's image of fluency in a conversation that used to be hard.
Where you often see it. The tongue stuck in the dream. A tongue speaking on its own. Words tasted before they are spoken. The dream uses the tongue for speech as voluntary act — choosing the words you actually use.
What it is not. The tongue is not always about literal speech. The reading is about agency over what you say.
Related in the dictionary. Read tongue with mouth, silence, and any scene where words were chosen, refused, or lost.