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Abstract

Early humans formed language units consisting of global and discrete dimensions of semiosis in dynamic opposition, or â˜growth points.â™ At some point, gestures gained the power to orchestrate actions, manual and vocal, with significances other than those of the actions themselves, giving rise to cognition framed in dual terms. However, our proposal emphasizes natural selection of joint gesture-speech, not â˜gesture-firstâ™ in language origin.

Keywords: gesture, growth point theory, pantomime, social interaction, thinking-for-speaking

@article{mcneill08growthPoints,
  author={David McNeill and Susan D. Duncan and Jonathan Cole and Shaun Gallagher and Bennett Bertenthal},
  title={Growth points from the very beginning},
  journal={Interaction Studies},
  year={2008},
  volume={9},
  number={1},
  pages={117-132},
  url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/mcneill08growthPoints.html},
  keywords={gesture, growth point theory, pantomime, social interaction, thinking-for-speaking}
}