Is it language (yet)? The allure of the gesture-language binary

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Linguistics
• Psychology

Background:

• Traditional views separate language by modality (spoken vs. signed).
• Goldin-Meadow & Brentari (G-M&B) challenge this binary, but maintain a strict separation.
• Existing frameworks may oversimplify the complex nature of human communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a more nuanced framework for understanding human communication.
• To investigate the roles of discreteness and combinatoriality in communication.
• To explore how changes in these dimensions reflect cognitive processes.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of existing theories.
• Examination of linguistic and nonlinguistic communication systems.
• Longitudinal analysis of communication transformations.

Main Results:

• Multiple dimensions, including discreteness and combinatoriality, offer a richer description of communication than modality alone.
• These dimensions provide a more accurate way to categorize diverse communication forms.
• Transformation over time along these dimensions is key to understanding language evolution.

Conclusions:

• Human communication is better understood through dimensions like discreteness and combinatoriality.
• This multidimensional approach offers deeper insights into the relationship between language and the human mind.
• Future research should focus on temporal changes in these communication dimensions.