Gesture is the primary modality for language creation.

ABSTRACT: How language began is one of the oldest questions in science, but theories remain speculative due to a lack of direct evidence. Here, we report two experiments that generate empirical evidence to inform gesture-first and vocal-first theories of language origin; in each, we tested modern humans' ability to communicate a range of meanings (995 distinct words) using either gesture or non-linguistic vocalization. Experiment 1 is a cross-cultural study, with signal Producers sampled from Australia (n = 30, M_age = 32.63, s.d. = 12.42) and Vanuatu (n = 30, M_age = 32.40, s.d. = 11.76). Experiment 2 is a cross-experiential study in which Producers were either sighted (n = 10, M_age = 39.60, s.d. = 11.18) or severely vision-im

SUBMITTER: Fay N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8905156 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature