Chapter 1
Pantomime within and beyond the evolution of language
The core of the paper is a critique of the role of pantomime in the author’s theory (the Mirror System Hypothesis,
MSH, itself evolving) of the biocultural evolution that led to human brains that were “language ready” long before humans
developed languages. We argue that the notion of “ad hoc” pantomime posited there should be modified to a notion of
“ur-pantomime” in which pantomimes are somewhat ritualized by individual users but not yet conventionalized by the group. We
extend this to offer a taxonomy of pantomime, with the above forms distinguished from both pantomime exhibited by apes and
theatrical pantomime.
Complex action recognition and imitation play a crucial role in MSH, as well as conventionalization of pantomime to
“protosigns” as possible stepping stones to protolanguage. Pantomimes can also emphasize flexible trajectories to indicate the
ways in which an action might vary depending on the current affordances of objects. Both features are shown to be helpful in
pedagogy, but are not restricted to this domain. Trajectory variation may be the underpinning of present-day cospeech
gestures.
We then turn to a hypothesis on the cultural evolution whereby protolanguages became languages through the emergence
of a broader lexicon and a grammar comprised of diverse constructions supporting a compositional syntax.
Noting that MSH has focused on the emerging structure of single utterances, we assess how MSH may be modified to
incorporate an account of the emergence of narrative.
Finally, we assess to what extent mindreading, navigation in space, and navigation in time are to be added to the
capabilities of the language-ready brain, while insisting that their form in modern humans results from an expanding spiral
linked with capacities for language and narrative through cultural evolution.
Article outline
- MSH: The early stages
- The vocal-manual debate
- A taxonomy of pantomime
- Pedagogy and other forms of social coordination
- Conventionalization versus trajectories
- From pantomime to (micro-)protolanguages
- MSH: The emergence of grammar
- The co-evolution of words and constructions
- The prehistory of language change
- Was narrative prior to language in human evolution?
- Ur-pantomime supports only simple protonarratives
- The triadic system and the narrative-ready brain
- Mindreading
- Navigation in time
- Conclusion
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
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Cited by (2)
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2024.
Praxis, demonstration and pantomime: a motion capture investigation of differences in action performances.
Language and Cognition 16:4
► pp. 1338 ff.

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