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From the pragmatics of charades to the creation of language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2023

Nick Chater Open the ORCID record for Nick Chater [Opens in a new window]  and
Morten H. Christiansen Open the ORCID record for Morten H. Christiansen [Opens in a new window]
Nick Chater
Affiliation:
Behavioural Science Group, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK. nick.chater@wbs.ac.uk
Morten H. Christiansen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. christiansen@cornell.edu Interacting Minds Centre and School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
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Abstract

We agree with Heintz & Scott-Phillips that pragmatics does not supplement, but is prior to and underpins, language. Indeed, human non-linguistic communication is astonishingly rich, flexible, and subtle, as we illustrate through the game of charades, where people improvise communicative signals when linguistic channels are blocked. The route from non-linguistic charade-like communication to combinatorial language involves (1) local processes of conventionalization and grammaticalization and (2) spontaneous order arising from mutual constraints between different communicative signals.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 46 , 2023 , e7
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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