We approach the issue of holophrasis versus compositionality in the emergence of protolanguage by analyzing the earliest combinatorial constructions in child, bonobo, and chimpanzee: messages consisting of one symbol combined with one gesture. Based on evidence from apes learning an interspecies visual communication system and children acquiring a first language, we conclude that the potential to combine two different kinds of semiotic element — deictic and representational — was fundamental to the protolanguage forming the foundation for the earliest human language. This is a form of compositionality, in that each communicative element stands for a single semantic element. The conclusion that human protolanguage was exclusively holophrastic — containing a proposition in a single word — emerges only if one considers the symbol alone, without taking into account the gesture as a second element comprising the total message.
2018. Digital Games for Animals. In Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, ► pp. 1 ff.
Fiadotau, Mikhail
2024. Digital Games for Animals. In Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, ► pp. 585 ff.
Gillespie-Lynch, Kristen, Patricia M. Greenfield, Heidi Lyn & Sue Savage-Rumbaugh
2014. Gestural and symbolic development among apes and humans: support for a multimodal theory of language evolution. Frontiers in Psychology 5
Greenfield, Patricia M.
2009. Book review: Finding Our Tongues: Mothers, Infants, and the Origins of Language. American Journal of Human Biology 21:6 ► pp. 858 ff.
Greenfield, Patricia M. & Kristen Gillespie-Lynch
2008. Intersubjectivity evolved to fit the brain, but grammar co-evolved with the brain. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31:5 ► pp. 523 ff.
Hopkins, William D.
2013. Apes, Language, and the Brain. In Animal Models of Speech and Language Disorders, ► pp. 263 ff.
Lyn, Heidi, Patricia M. Greenfield & E. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh
2011. Semiotic combinations in Pan: A comparison of communication in a chimpanzee and two bonobos. First Language 31:3 ► pp. 300 ff.
Lyn, Heidi, Patricia M. Greenfield, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Kristen Gillespie-Lynch & William D. Hopkins
2011. Nonhuman primates do declare! A comparison of declarative symbol and gesture use in two children, two bonobos, and a chimpanzee. Language & Communication 31:1 ► pp. 63 ff.
Lyn, Heidi & Sue Savage-Rumbaugh
2012. The Use of Emotion Symbols in Language-Using Apes. In Emotions of Animals and Humans [The Science of the Mind, ], ► pp. 113 ff.
Pedersen, Janni
2016. Apes in conversation: The role of the human interlocutor. Language & Communication 50 ► pp. 1 ff.
2014. How early do children understand gesture–speech combinations with iconic gestures?. Journal of Child Language 41:2 ► pp. 462 ff.
Tanner, Joanne E. & Marcus Perlman
2017. Moving beyond ‘meaning’: Gorillas combine gestures into sequences for creative display. Language & Communication 54 ► pp. 56 ff.
Uhlíř, Vilém
2018. Representational Systems in Zoosemiotics and Anthroposemiotics Part I: What Have the So-Called “Talking Animals” Taught Us about Human Language?. Linguistic Frontiers 1:1 ► pp. 14 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 february 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.