Demonstration and pantomime in the evolution of teaching and communication

Abstract

The article begins with a presentation of the role of demonstration and pantomime in the evolution of teaching building on Gärdenfors and Högberg (2017). In comparison to different forms of animal communication, demonstration is voluntary, intentional, honest, and directed to one or a few individuals. Then the differences between demonstration and pantomime is analyzed. An important factor is that a pantomime can be detached, that is, can refer to entities that are not present or to other moments of time. A key section of the article concerns the extension of pantomime from its use in teaching to a more general communicative use. I present six factors – communicative sign function, degree of detachment, pragmatic form, represented action, perspective, and degree of pretence, which – following a principle of cognitive parsimony – all suggest that pantomime for teaching is evolutionarily older.