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Part of
Perspectives on Pantomime
Edited by Przemysław Żywiczyński, Johan Blomberg and Monika Boruta-Żywiczyńska
[Advances in Interaction Studies 12] 2024
► pp. 159–187

Chapter 7
The pantomime roots of Sao Tome and Principe Sign Language

| Universidade Católica Portuguesa
| Universidade Católica Portuguesa | NOVA University Lisbon

Pantomime is a unique semiotic resource for human communication despite its non-linguistic character because it allows a wide spectrum of meanings (Zlatev et al., 2020). In our view, gestures and vocalizations are interconnected from the beginning of the emergence of language in human beings (Corballis, 2014). Recent studies in a newborn language showed a boost of linguistic systematicity (Mineiro et al., 2021; Abreu et al., 2022), which included a reduction in the use of pantomime, amplitude of signs, and an increase in articulation economy within a social interaction process. We claim this process constitutes a continuum and not a cut-off system. The evolution of a newborn sign language seems to follow the same phases of psychomotor development and to be linked to efficient use of energy while enhancing cognition, allowing for the accomplishment of social communication enabled by sign language.

Keywords: pantomime, sign language, newborn language, language evolution
Article outline
  • 1.Brief notes on language genesis
  • 2.Background information on the LGSTP studies
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Procedures
  • 3.From pantomime to proto and early sign
    • 3.1From pantomime to early signs
      • 3.1.1What did the evolution from pantomime to signs look like?
    • 3.2Evolution of movement and articulatory properties
      • 3.2.1Body movement
      • 3.2.2The involvement of body articulators (non-manual articulators)
    • 3.3The role of iconicity in the emerging phonological system
      • 3.3.1Iconic signs in the evolution of a new sign language
      • 3.3.2Internal structure emergence in iconic signs in the evolution of a new sign language
    • 3.4The evolution of basic order
    • 3.5The emergence of linguistic complexity
      • 3.5.1The articulatory and phonological characteristics of emerging signs
      • 3.5.2Trends in emergent morphology
  • 4.Signs do not emerge ex-nihilo
  • 5.End note
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 February 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ais.12.07min
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