Speaking the dialect of a particular architectural language is very difficult if the dialect is not codified adequately. Modern is only characterized by the time in which there exists the now. We are now in modern times. Yet 100 years ago, those who lived were also in modern times. The modern language, then, of architecture is the language which architects speak at the present time.
Communication is a structured attempt to relate ideas, and architecture is no different.
Depending on which perspective one chooses to view the horizon from however, architecture today can be perceived as being in many states. But the language does not change. This is the finer point by which all architects can systematically work and have their ideas be perceived by others. The communication game goes on. Metaphor, antethesis, litotes, irony, it's all there.