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Beyond prosody and infant-directed speech: Affective, social construction of meaning in the origins of language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2005

Barbara J. King*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, 23187
Stuart Shanker*
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychology and Philosophy, Atkinson College, York University, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3Canada

Abstract:

Our starting point for the origins of language goes beyond prosody or infant-directed speech to highlight the affective, multimodal, and co-constructed nature of meaning-making that was likely present before the split between African great apes and hominins. Analysis of vocal and gestural caregiving practices in hominins, and of meaning-making via gestural interaction in African great apes, supports our thesis.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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