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. 2021 Apr 14:12:640057.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.640057. eCollection 2021.

Disentangling Pantomime From Early Sign in a New Sign Language: Window Into Language Evolution Research

Ana Mineiro  1   2 , Inmaculada Concepción Báez-Montero  3 , Mara Moita  1   2   4 , Isabel Galhano-Rodrigues  5   6 , Alexandre Castro-Caldas  1   2
Affiliations

Disentangling Pantomime From Early Sign in a New Sign Language: Window Into Language Evolution Research

Ana Mineiro et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

In this study, we aim to disentangle pantomime from early signs in a newly-born sign language: Sao Tome and Principe Sign Language. Our results show that within 2 years of their first contact with one another, a community of 100 participants interacting everyday was able to build a shared language. The growth of linguistic systematicity, which included a decrease in use of pantomime, reduction of the amplitude of signs and an increase in articulation economy, showcases a learning, and social interaction process that constitutes a continuum and not a cut-off system. The human cognitive system is endowed with mechanisms for symbolization that allow the process of arbitrariness to unfold and the expansion of linguistic complexity. Our study helps to clarify the role of pantomime in a new sign language and how this role might be linked with language itself, showing implications for language evolution research.

Keywords: early signs; emergent sign language; human communication; language evolution; pantomime.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Draws presented to the participants in the elicitation task.
Graph 1
Graph 1
Percentage of frequency of occurrences of pantomime gestures and sign, classifiers, and other gestures along the four phases of collecting data.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pantomimic gestures and signs across the four phases.
Graph 2
Graph 2
Percentage of frequency of occurrences of articulators use torso, head and legs in the analyzed 1,000 gestures, and signs.
Graph 3
Graph 3
Percentage of frequency of occurrences of one hand and two hands articulators in the analyzed 1,000 gestures and signs along the four phases.
Graph 4
Graph 4
Percentage of frequency of occurrences of gestures or signs with (amplitude +) and (amplitude –) in the analyzed 1,000 gestures and signs along the four phases.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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