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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2017

Marie Coppola  and
Ann Senghas
Marie Coppola
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Sciences, Department of Linguistics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-1020. marie.coppola@uconn.edu http://www.languagecreationlab.uconn.edu
Ann Senghas
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Barnard College, New York, NY 10027-6598. asenghas@barnard.edu http://www.columbia.edu/~as1038
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Abstract

Goldin-Meadow & Brentari (G-M&B) challenge the traditional separation between gestural and categorical language by modality, but they retain a binary distinction. However, multiple dimensions, particularly discreteness and combinatoriality, better carve up the range of linguistic and nonlinguistic human communication. Investigating transformation over time along these dimensions will reveal how the nature of language reflects human minds, rather than the world to which language refers.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e50
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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