Protolanguage in ontogeny and phylogeny: Combining deixis and representation

Abstract

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. © John Benjamins Publishing Company.