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Human uniqueness, bodily mimesis and the evolution of language

In English

Författare

Summary, in English

I argue that an evolutionary adaptation for bodily mimesis, the volitional use of the body as a representational devise, is the “small difference” that gave rise to unique and yet pre-linguistic features of humanity such as (over)imitation, pedagogy, intentional communication and the possibility of a cumulative, representational culture. Furthermore, it is this that made the evolution of language possible. In support for the thesis that speech evolved atop bodily mimesis and a transitional multimodal protolanguage, I review evidence for the extensive presence of sound-symbolism in modern languages, for its psychological reality in adults, and for its contribution to language acquisition in children. On a meta-level, the argument is that dividing human cognitive-semiotic evolution into a sequence of stages is crucial for resolving classical dichotomies on human nature and language, which are both natural and cultural, both continuous with and discontinuous from those of (other) animals.

Avdelning/ar

Publiceringsår

2014

Språk

Engelska

Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie

Humana.Mente

Issue

27

Dokumenttyp

Artikel i tidskrift

Förlag

Humana.Mente

Ämne

  • Languages and Literature

Nyckelord

  • sound symbolism
  • representation
  • iconicity
  • cross-modality
  • conventionality

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt

  • ISSN: 1972-1293