Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2024-06-07T07:18:15.024Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - The Role of Gesture in Debates on the Origins of Language

from Part III - Gestures and Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2024

By
Przemysław Źywiczyński  and
Jordan Zlatev
Edited by
Alan Cienki
Alan Cienki
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Get access

Summary

Proposals that gesture played a pivotal role in the evolution of language have been highly influential. However, there are many differences between gestural origin theories, including different definitions of ‘gesture’ itself. We use a cognitive semiotic approach in order to categorize and review these theories. A semiotic system is a combination of signs or signals of particular type, defined by characteristic properties, and the interrelations between these signs/signals. Signal systems like spontaneous facial expressions and non-linguistic vocalizations are under less voluntary control than sign systems. The basic distinction relates to the question of whether gesture played an exclusive role in early stages of language evolution (monosemiotic theories), or whether other semiotic systems were involved as well: polysemiotic theories. The latter may be equipollent, where language and gesture are considered equally prominent from the onset, or pantomimic, where gesture played the main but not exclusive role in breaking from predominantly signal-based to sign-based communication. We conclude that pantomimic theories are the most promising kind.

Keywords

bodily mimesiscognitive semioticsmonosemioticpantomimepolysemioticsemiotic systemssignalssigns
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Gesture Studies , pp. 335 - 367
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahlner, F., & Zlatev, J. (2010). Cross-modal iconicity: A cognitive semiotic approach to sound symbolism. Sign System Studies, 38(1/4), 298–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrén, M. (2010). Children’s gestures between 18 and 30 months. Lund, Sweden: Media Tryck.Google Scholar
Arbib, M. A. (2005). From monkey-like action to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28, 105–167. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X05000038CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arbib, M. A. (2006). Aphasia, apraxia and the evolution of the language-ready brain. Aphasiology, 20(9), 1125–1155. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687030600741683CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arbib, M. A. (2012). How the brain got language. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arbib, M. A. (2016). Towards a computational comparative neuroprimatology: Framing the language-ready brain. Physics of Life Reviews, 16, 1–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2015.09.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Armstrong, D. F., Stokoe, W. C., & Wilcox, S. E. (1995). Gesture and the nature of language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, D. F., & Wilcox, S. (2007). The gestural origin of language. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bard, K. A., Bakeman, R., Boysen, S. T., & Leavens, D. A. (2014). Emotional engagements predict and enhance social cognition in young chimpanzees. Developmental Science, 17(5), 682–696. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12145CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bard, K. A., Maguire-Herring, V., Tomonaga, M., & Matsuzawa, T. (2019). The gesture “Touch”: Does meaning-making develop in chimpanzees’ use of a very flexible gesture?. Animal Cognition, 22(4), 535–550. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-017-1136-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berwick, R. C., & Chomsky, N. (2015). Why only us: Language and evolution. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Blasi, D., Wichmann, S., Hammarstörm, H., Stadler, P., & Christiansen, M. (2016). Sound–meaning association biases evidenced across thousands of languages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(39), 10818–10823. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1605782113CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brosnan, S. F., & De Waal, F. B. (2002). A proximate perspective on reciprocal altruism. Human Nature, 13(1), 129–152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, J. E. (2012). The evolution of symbolic communication: An embodied perspective. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Brown, S., Mittermaier, E., Kher, T., & Arnold, P. (2019). How pantomime works: Implications for theories of language origin. Frontiers in Communication, 4, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burling, R. (2005). The talking ape: How language evolved. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrne, R. W., Cartmill, E., Genty, E., Graham, K. E., Hobaiter, C., & Tanner, J. (2017). Great ape gestures: Intentional communication with a rich set of innate signals. Animal Cognition, 20(4), 755–769. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-017-1096-4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carstairs-McCarthy, A. (1996). Review of Armstrong, Stokoe & Wilcox, Gesture and the nature of language. Lingua, 99(2–3), 135–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(96)81480-XGoogle Scholar
Collins, C. (2014). Paleopoetics: The evolution of the preliterate imagination. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Corballis, M. C. (2002). From hand to mouth: The origins of language. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corballis, M. C. (2003). From mouth to hand: Gesture, speech, and the evolution of right-handedness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 26(2), 199–208. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X03000062CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corballis, M. C. (2012). How language evolved from manual gestures. Gesture, 12(2), 200–226. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.12.2.04corCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corballis, M. C. (2013). Gestural theory of the origins of language. New Perspectives on the Origins of Language, 144, 171–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corballis, M. C. (2019). Language, memory, and mental time travel: An evolutionary perspective. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 13, 217. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00217CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crockford, C., Wittig, R. M., Mundry, R., & Zuberbühler, K. (2012). Wild chimpanzees inform ignorant group members of danger. Current Biology, 22(2), 142–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2011.11.053CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crockford, C., Wittig, R. M., & Zuberbühler, K. (2017). Vocalizing in chimpanzees is influenced by social-cognitive processes. Science Advances, 3(11), e1701742. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1701742CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deacon, T. (1997). The symbolic species: The co-evolution of language and the brain. New York, NY: W. W. Norton and Company.Google Scholar
Demir‐Lira, Ö. E., Asaridou, S. S., Raja Beharelle, A., Holt, A. E., Goldin‐Meadow, S., & Small, S. L. (2018). Functional neuroanatomy of gesture–speech integration in children varies with individual differences in gesture processing. Developmental Science, 21(5), e12648. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12648CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de la Torre, I. (2016). The origins of the Acheulean: Past and present perspectives on a major transition in human evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 371(1698), https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0245CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Waal, F. B. M., & Pollick, A. S. (2011). Gesture as the most flexible modality of primate communication. In Gibson, K. R. & Tallerman, M. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language evolution (pp. 82–89). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dittman, A. T. (1972). The body movement-speech rhythm relationship as a cue to speech encoding. In Siegman, A. W. & Pope, B. (Eds.), Studies in dyadic communication (pp. 135–155). New York, NY: Pergamon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donald, M. (1991). Origins of the modern mind: Three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Donald, M. (1998). Mimesis and the executive suite: Missing links in language evolution. In Hurford, J. R., Studdert-Kennedy, M., & Knight, C. (Eds.), Approaches to the evolution of language: Social and cognitive bases (pp. 44–67). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Donald, M. (2001). A mind so rare: The evolution of human consciousness. New York, NY: Norton.Google Scholar
Donald, M. (2012). The mimetic origins of language. In Tallerman, M. & Gibson, K. R. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language evolution (pp. 180–184). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199541119.013.0017Google Scholar
Donald, M. (2013). Mimesis theory re-examined, twenty years after the fact. In Hatfield, G. & Pittman, H. (Eds.), Evolution of mind, brain and culture (pp. 169–192). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Efron, D. (1941). Gesture and environment. New York, NY: King’s Crown Press.Google Scholar
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1969). Nonverbal leakage and clues to deception. Psychiatry, 32 (1), 88–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1969.11023575CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Emmorey, K. (2002). Language, cognition, and brain: Insights from sign language research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Falk, D. (2009). Finding our tongues: Mothers, infants, and the origins of language. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Fay, N., Arbib, M., & Garrod, S. (2013). How to bootstrap a human communication system. Cognitive Science, 37(7), 1356–1367. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12048CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fay, N., Lister, C. J., Ellison, T. M., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2014). Creating a communication system from scratch: Gesture beats vocalization hands down. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 354. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00354CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fitch, W. T. (2010). The evolution of language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forceville, C. (2017). Visual and multimodal metaphor in advertising. Styles of Communication, 9(2), 26–41.Google Scholar
Freedman, N. (1972). The analysis of movement behavior during the clinical interview. In Seigman, A. & Pope, B. (Eds.), Studies in dyadic communication (pp. 153–175). New York, NY: Pergamon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fröhlich, M., Sievers, C., Townsend, S. W., Gruber, T., & van Schaik, C. P. (2019). Multimodal communication and language origins: Integrating gestures and vocalizations. Biological Reviews, 94(5), 1809–1829. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12535CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Furness, W. H. (1916). Observations on the mentality of chimpanzees and orangutans. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 55 (3), 281–290. www.jstor.org/stable/984118Google Scholar
Galantucci, B. (2009). Experimental semiotics: A new approach for studying communication as a form of joint action. Topics in Cognitive Science, 1(2), 393–410. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2009.01027.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gardner, R. A., & Gardner, B. T. (1969). Teaching sign language to a chimpanzee. Science, 165(3894), 664–672. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.165.3894.664CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gardner, R. A., & Gardner, B. T. (1971). Two-way communication with an infant chimpanzee. In Schrier, A. & Stollnitz, F. (Eds.), Behavior of nonhuman primates (pp. 117–184). New York, NY: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-629104-9.50010-8Google Scholar
Gärdenfors, P. (2017). Demonstration and pantomime in the evolution of teaching. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 415. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00415CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gärdenfors, P. (2018). Pantomime as a foundation for ritual and language. Studia Liturgica, 48(1–2), 41–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/00393207180481-204CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gärdenfors, P., & Högberg, A. (2017). The archaeology of teaching and the evolution of Homo docens. Current Anthropology, 58(2), 188–208. https://doi.org/10.1086/691178CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gentilucci, M., & Corballis, M. C. (2006). From manual gesture to speech: A gradual transition. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 30(7), 949–960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2006.02.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldin-Meadow, S. (2008). Gesture, speech, and language. In Smith, A., Smith, K., & Ferrer-i-Cancho, R. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (pp. 427–428). London, UK: World Scientific.Google Scholar
Goldschmidt, R. (1982). The material basis of evolution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Green, J. (2014). Drawn from the ground: Sound, sign and inscription in Central Australian sand stories. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, K. J., & Hayes, C. (1952). Imitation in a home-raised chimpanzee. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 45 (5), 450–459. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0053609CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewes, G. W., Andrew, R. J., Carini, L., Hackeny, C., Gardner, R. A., Kortland, A, … & Wescott, R. W. (1973). Primate communication and the gestural origins of language. Current Anthropology, 14(1/2), 5–24. https://doi.org/10.1086/201401CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewes, G. W. (1977a). A model for language evolution. Sign Language Studies, 15, 97–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewes, G. W. (1977b). Language origin theories. In Rumbaugh, D. (Ed.), Language learning by a chimpanzee: The Lana Project (pp. 3–53). New York, NY: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewes, G. W. (1996). A history of the study of language origins and the gestural primacy hypothesis. In Lock, A. & Peters, C. R. (Eds.), Handbook of human symbolic evolution (pp. 263–269). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Higginbotham, D. R., Isaak, M. I., & Domingue, J. N. (2008). The exaptation of manual dexterity for articulate speech: An electromyogram investigation. Experimental Brain Research, 186(4), 603–609. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-007-1265-9CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hobaiter, C., & Byrne, R. W. (2014). The meanings of chimpanzee gestures. Current Biology, 24(14), 1596–1600. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.05.066CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hrdy, S. B. (2009). Mothers and others: The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hurford, J. R. (2007). The origins of meaning; Language in the light of evolution. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Imai, M., & Kita, S. (2014). The sound symbolism bootstrapping hypothesis for language acquisition and language evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 369(1651). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0298CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kellogg, W. N., & Kellogg, L. A. (1933). The ape and the child: A comparative study of the environmental influence upon early behavior. New York, NY: Hafner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (1985). Some uses of gesture. In Tannen, D. & Saville Troike, M. (Eds.), Perspectives on silence (pp. 215–234). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (1992). Some recent work from Italy on quotable gestures (Emblems). Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 2(1), 92–108. www.jstor.org/stable/43102154CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (1995). Gestures as illocutionary and discourse structure markers in Southern Italian conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 23(3), 247–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(94)00037-FCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2004). Gesture: Visible action as utterance. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2008). Signs for language origins? The Public Journal of Semiotics, 2(2), 2–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2009). Language’s matrix. Gesture, 9(3), 355–372. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.9.3.05kenCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2011). Some modern considerations for thinking about language evolution: A discussion of the evolution of language by Tecumseh Fitch. The Public Journal of Semiotics, 3(1), 79–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2014). The ‘poly-modalic’ nature of utterances and its relevance for inquiring into language origins. In Dor, D., Knight, C., & Lewis, J. (Eds.), The social origins of language (pp. 67–76). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (2017). Reflections on the gesture-first hypothesis of language origins. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24(1), 163–170. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1117-3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kita, S. (2000). How representational gestures help speaking. In McNeill, D. (Ed.), Language and gesture (pp. 162–185). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kita, S., & Özyürek, A. (2003). What does cross-linguistic variation in semantic coordination of speech and gesture reveal?: Evidence for an interface representation of spatial thinking and speaking. Journal of Memory and Language, 47 (1), 16–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-596X(02)00505-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klima, E. A., & Bellugi, U. (1979). The signs of language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Knecht, S., Dräger, B., Deppe, M., Bobe, L., Lohmann, H., Flöel, … Henningsen, H. (2000). Handedness and hemispheric language dominance in healthy humans. Brain, 123(12), 2512–2518. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/123.12.2512CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knight, C. (2000). Play as precursors of phonology and syntax. In Knight, C., Studdert-Kennedy, M., & Hurford (Eds.), J., The evolutionary emergence of language (pp. 99–119). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kress, G. (2009). Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. London, UK: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laudanna, A., & Volterra, V. (1991). Order of words, signs, and gestures: A first comparison. Applied Psycholinguistics, 12(2), 135–150. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716400009115CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leavens, D. A., Hopkins, W. D., & Thomas, R. K. (2004). Referential communication by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 118(1), 48–57. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0735-7036.118.1.48CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lepic, R., Börstell, C., Belsitzman, G., & Sandler, W. (2016). Taking meaning in hand. Sign Language & Linguistics, 19(1), 37–81. https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.19.1.02lepCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levinson, S. C. (2006). On the human “interaction engine”. In Enfield, N. J. & Levinson, S. C. (Eds.), Roots of human sociality: Culture, cognition and interaction (pp. 36–69). Oxford, UK: Berg.Google Scholar
Levinson, S., & Holler, J. (2014). The origin of human multi-modal communication, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B. Biological Sciences, 369, 20130302. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0302CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levy, E. (2011). A new study of the co-emergence of speech and gestures: Towards an embodied account of early narrative development. Poster presented at the 2011 Language Fest, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. (2014). BaYaka pygmy multi-modal and mimetic communication traditions. In Dor, D., Knight, C., & Lewis, J. (Eds.), The social origins of language (pp. 77–91). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., Henning, A., Striano, T., & Tomasello, M. (2004). Twelve-month-olds point to share attention and interest, Developmental Science, 7 (3), 297–307. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00349.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lockwood, G., & Dingemanse, M. (2015). Iconicity in the lab: A review of behavioral, developmental, and neuroimaging research into sound-symbolism. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1246. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01246Google ScholarPubMed
Lyell, C. (1833). Principles of geology. London, UK: John Murray.Google Scholar
MacNeilage, P. F. (2008). The origin of speech. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McNeill, D. (1992). What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McNeill, D. (2005). Gesture and thought. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeill, D. (2012). How language began: Gesture and speech in human evolution. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mead, G. H. (1974). Mind, self, and society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist. Morris, C. W. (Ed.), Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1934)Google Scholar
Meir, I., Sandler, W., Padden, C., & Aronoff, M. (2010a). Emerging sign languages. In Marschark, M. & Spencer, P. (Eds.), Oxford handbook of deaf studies, language, and education (Vol. 2, pp. 267–280). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Meir, I., Aronoff, M., Sandler, W., & Padden, C. (2010b). Sign languages and compounding. In Scalise, S. & Vogel, I. (Eds.), Compounding (pp. 573–595). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Müller, C. (2014). Gestural modes of representation as techniques of depiction. In Müller, C., Cienki, A., Fricke, E., Ladewig, S. H., McNeill, D., & Bressem, J. (Eds.), Body - language - communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction (Vol. 2, pp. 1687–1702). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110302028.1687Google Scholar
Müller, C., Cienki, A., Fricke, E., Ladewig, S., McNeill, D., Teßendorf, S. & Bressem, J. (Eds.) (2013–2014). Body - language - communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction (Vols. 1 & 2). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110302028Google Scholar
Orzechowski, S., Wacewicz, S., & Żywiczyński, P. (2014). Orofacial gestures in language evolution. The auditory feedback hypothesis. In Cartmill, E. S., Roberts, S., Lyn, H., & Cornish, H. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th International Conference (EVOLANG 10) (pp. 221–227). Singapore: World Scientific.Google Scholar
Perlman, M. (2017). Debunking two myths against vocal origins of language. Interaction Studies 18(3), 376–401. https://doi.org/10.1075/is.18.3.05perCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perlman, M., & Cain, A. A. (2014). Iconicity in vocalization, comparisons with gesture, and implications for theories on the evolution of language. Gesture, 14(3), 320–350. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.14.3.03perCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pika, S. (2008a). What is the nature of the gestural communication of great apes? In Zlatev, J., Racine, T., Sinha, C., & Itkonen, E. (Eds.), The shared mind: Perspectives on intersubjectivity (pp. 165–186). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pika, S. (2008b). Gestures of apes and pre-linguistic human children: Similar or different?. First Language, 28(2), 116–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723707080966CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poggi, I., & Zomparelli, M. (1987). Lessico e grammatica nei gesti e nelle parole [Lexis and grammar of gestures and speech]. In Poggi, I. (Ed.), Le parole nella testa. Per una educazione lingusitica cognitivista [Words in the head. For a cognitive-linguistic education] (pp. 291–327). Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Pollick, A. S., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2007). Ape gestures and language evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 104(19), 8184–8189. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0702624104CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Premack, D. (1970). The Education of Sarah: A chimpanzee learns the language. Psychology Today, 4 (4), 55–58.Google Scholar
Premack, D., & Premack, A. J. (1974). Teaching visual language to apes and language-deficient persons. In Schiefelbusch, R. L. & Lloyd, L. L. (Eds.), Language perspectives: Acquisition, retardation and intervention (pp. 347–375). Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Rizzolatti, G., & Arbib, M. A. (1998). Language within our grasp. Trends in Neurosciences, 21(5), 188–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0166-2236(98)01260-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rousseau, J.-J. (2008). Discourse on the origin of inequality. New York, NY: Cosimo Classics. (Original work published 1755)Google Scholar
Sandler, W., Meir, I., Padden, C., & Aronoff, M. (2005) The emergence of grammar: Systematic study in a new language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(7), 2661–2665. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0405448102CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandler, W. (2013). Vive la énéralee: Sign language and spoken language in language evolution. Language and Cognition, 5(2–3), 189–203. https://doi.org/10.1515/langcog-2013-0013CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saussure, F. de (1960). Cours de linguistique énérale/Course in general linguistics. Paris, France/London, UK: Payot/Duckworth. (Original work published 1916)Google Scholar
Scherer, K. R., Johnstone, T., & Klasmeyer, G. (2003). Vocal expression of emotion. In Davidson, R. J., Scherer, K. R., & Goldsmith, H. H. (Eds.), Series in affective science. Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 433–456). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Senghas, A., & Coppola, M. (2001). Children creating language: How Nicaraguan Sign Language acquired a spatial grammar. Psychological Science, 12 (4), 323–328. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00359CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Senghas, A., Kita, S., & Özyürek, A. (2004). Children creating core properties of language: Evidence from an emerging sign language in Nicaragua. Science, 305(5691), 1779–1782. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1100199CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Slocombe, K. (2011). Have we underestimated great ape vocal capacities? Oxford handbooks online. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199541119.013.0007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonesson, G. (1997). The ecological foundations of iconicity. In Rauch, I., Carr, G., & Gerald, F. (Eds.), Semiotics around the world: Synthesis in diversity (pp. 739–742). Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Sonesson, G. (2007). From the meaning of embodiment to the embodiment of meaning: A study in phenomenological semiotics. In Ziemke, T., Zlatev, J., & Frank, R. (Eds.), Body, language and mind. Vol. 1: Embodiment (pp. 85–128). Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Stamp, R., & Sandler, W. (2016). The grammar of the body and the emergence of complexity in sign languages. In Roberts, S. G., Cuskley, C., McCrohon, L., Barceló-Coblijn, L., Feher, O., & Verhoef, T. (Eds.), The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference (EVOLANG11). https://doi.org/10.17617/2.2248195CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stampoulidis, G., Bolognesi, M., & Zlatev, J. (2019). A cognitive semiotic exploration of metaphors in Greek street art. Cognitive Semiotics, 12(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogsem-2019-2008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokoe, W. C. (1960). Sign language structure: An outline of the visual communication systems of the American deaf studies, Linguistics Occasional Papers, 8, 1–78.Google Scholar
Stokoe, W. C. (1991). Semantic phonology. Sign Language Studies, 71, 99–106. https://doi.org/10.1353/sls.1991.0032CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokoe, W. C., Casterline, D. C., & Croneberg, C. G. (1965). A dictionary of American Sign Language on linguistic principles. Silver Spring, MD: Linstok.Google Scholar
Suddendorf, T., & Corballis, M. (1997) Mental time travel and the evolution of the human mind. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 123(2),133–167.Google ScholarPubMed
Tanner, J., & Perlman, M. (2017). Moving beyond “meaning”: Gorillas combine gestures into sequences for creative display. Language & Communication, 54, 56–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2016.10.006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2000). Primate cognition: Introduction to the issue. Cognitive Science, 24(3), 351–361. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog2403_1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2008). Origins of human communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2009). Why we cooperate. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M., George, B. L., Kruger, A. C., Jeffrey, M., & Evans, A. (1985). The development of gestural communication in young chimpanzees. Journal of Human Evolution, 14(2), 175–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2484(85)80005-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vigliocco, G., Perniss, P., & Vinson, D. (2014). Language as a multimodal phenomenon: Implications for language learning, processing and evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 369(1651), https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0292CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vingerhoets, G., Alderweireldt, A. S., Vandemaele, P., Cai, Q., Van der Haegen, L., Brysbaert, M., & Achten, E. (2013). Praxis and language are linked: Evidence from co-lateralization in individuals with atypical language dominance. Cortex, 49(1), 172–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2011.11.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wacewicz, S., & Żywiczyński, P. (2008). Broadcast transmission, signal secrecy and gestural primacy hypothesis. In Smith, A., Smith, K., & Ferrer-i-Cancho, R. (Eds.), The Evolution of Language. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference (EVOLANG 7) (pp. 354–361). Singapore: World Scientific. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789812776129_0045Google Scholar
Waxer, P. H. (1977). Nonverbal cues for anxiety: An examination of emotional leakage. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86(3), 306–314. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.86.3.306CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whiteside, S. P., Dyson, L., Cowell, P. E., & Varley, R. A. (2015). The relationship between apraxia of speech and oral apraxia: association or dissociation? Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 30(7), 670–682. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acv051CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zlatev, J. (2008). From proto-mimesis to language: Evidence from primatology and social neuroscience. Journal of Physiology – Paris, 102(1–3), 137–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphysparis.2008.03.016CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zlatev, J. (2014). Human uniqueness, bodily mimesis and the evolution of language. Humana. Mente Journal of Philosophical Studies, 7(27), 197–219.Google Scholar
Zlatev, J. (2015a). Cognitive semiotics. In Trifonas, P. (Ed.), International handbook of semiotics (pp. 1043–1067). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zlatev, J. (2015b). The emergence of gestures. In MacWhinney, B. & O’Grady, W. (Eds.), The handbook of language emergence (pp. 458–477). New York, NY: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zlatev, J. (2016). Preconditions in human embodiment for the evolution of symbolic communication. In Etzelmüller, G. & Tewes, C. (Eds.), Embodiment in evolution and culture (pp. 151–174). Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck.Google Scholar
Zlatev, J. (2019). Mimesis theory, learning and polysemiotic communication. In Peters, M. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of educational philosophy and theory (pp. 1–6). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_672-1Google Scholar
Zlatev, J., Persson, T., & Gärdenfors, P. (2005). Triadic bodily mimesis is the difference. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28(5), 720–721. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X05530127CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zlatev, J., & Andrén, M. (2009). Stages and transitions in children’s semiotic development. In Zlatev, J., Andrén, M., Johansson-Falck, M., & Lundmark, C. (Eds.), Studies in language and cognition (pp. 380–401). Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press.Google Scholar
Zlatev, J., Devylder, S., Defina, R., Moskaluk, K., & Andersen, L. B. (2023). Analyzing polysemiosis: Language, gesture, and depiction in two cultural practices with sand drawing. Semiotica, 2023(253), 81–116. https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2022-0102CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zlatev, J., Madsen, E., Lenninger, S., Persson, T., Sayehli, S., Sonesson, G., & van de Weijer, J. (2013). Understanding communicative intentions and semiotic vehicles by children and chimpanzees. Cognitive Development, 28(3), 312–329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2013.05.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zlatev, J., Wacewicz, S., Żywiczyński, P., & van de Weijer, J. (2017). Multimodal-first or pantomime-first communicating events through pantomime with and without vocalization. Interaction Studies, 18(3), 465–488. https://doi.org/10.1075/is.18.3.08zlaCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zlatev, J., Żywiczyński, P., & Wacewicz, S. (2020). Pantomime as the original human-specific semiotic system. Journal of Language Evolution, 5(2), 156–174. https://doi.org/10.1093/jole/lzaa006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Żywiczyński, P. (2018). Language origins: From mythology to science. Berlin, Germany: Peter Lang.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Żywiczyński, P. (2020). How research on language evolution contributes to linguistics. Poznań Linguistic Meeting Yearbook, 5(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.2478/yplm-2020-0001Google Scholar
Żywiczyński, P., & Wacewicz, S. (2019). The evolution of language: Towards gestural hypotheses. Berlin, Germany: Peter Lang.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Żywiczyński, P., Wacewicz, S., & Orzechowski, S. (2017). Adaptors and the turn-taking mechanism. Interaction Studies, 18(2), 276–298. https://doi.org/10.1075/is.18.2.07zywCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Żywiczyński, P., Wacewicz, S., & Sibierska, M. (2018). Defining pantomime for language evolution research. Topoi, 37(2), 307–318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-016-9425-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×