At the far end of diachrony: the evolutive spiral of the emergence of language. A theory
At the far end of diachrony: the evolutive spiral of the emergence of language. A theory

Summary/Abstract: Among the analytical efforts that pursue the question of the emergence of language, and possibly the formation of the cerebral mechanism that made it possible, the hypothesis of the mirror system developed by Michael A. Arbib is a well-articulated one, due to an interdisciplinary approach. The present article highlights several crucial elements in the process of its elaboration and exposes its essence: 1. there is no innate universal grammar; 2. language-readiness is a multimodal state – it evolved as a multimodal system: manual/facial/vocal, by stages: a) first, the protosign (manual protolanguage, with an open repertoire of signs); b) then, the protospeech (vocal protolanguage), that provided “the critical neuronal mass” due to which c) language evolved from protolanguage, as a result of cultural innovations; 3. the brain mechanisms that sustain language evolved atop a primitive pre-hominid mechanism that initially had nothing to do with communication; this, i.e. the mirror system for grasping, provided the evolutive base for language parity.

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