The origin of human multi-modal communication

One reason for the apparent gulf between animal and human communication systems is that the focus has been on the presence or the absence of language as a complex expressive system built on speech. But language normally occurs embedded within an interactional exchange of multi-modal signals. If this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences 2014-09, Vol.369 (1651), p.20130302-20130302
Main Authors: Levinson, Stephen C., Holler, Judith
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological Evolution
Cultural Evolution
Deixis
Gesture
Gestures
Humans
Iconicity
Intentional Vocalization
Language
Language Evolution
Models, Psychological
Multi-Modal Communication
Nonverbal Communication
Opinion Piece
Phylogeny
Species Specificity
Speech
Symbolism
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Summary:One reason for the apparent gulf between animal and human communication systems is that the focus has been on the presence or the absence of language as a complex expressive system built on speech. But language normally occurs embedded within an interactional exchange of multi-modal signals. If this larger perspective takes central focus, then it becomes apparent that human communication has a layered structure, where the layers may be plausibly assigned different phylogenetic and evolutionary origins—especially in the light of recent thoughts on the emergence of voluntary breathing and spoken language. This perspective helps us to appreciate the different roles that the different modalities play in human communication, as well as how they function as one integrated system despite their different roles and origins. It also offers possibilities for reconciling the ‘gesture-first hypothesis’ with that of gesture and speech having evolved together, hand in hand—or hand in mouth, rather—as one system.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.2013.0302