Book review
Vocalisation, speech, gesture, and the language origins debate
An essay review on recent contributions
Reviewed by
Published online: 3 April 2012
https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.11.3.05ken
https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.11.3.05ken
References (33)
Abry, Christian, Anne Vilain, & Jean-Luc Schwartz (Eds.) (2009). Vocalize to localize. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Arbib, Michael (2005). From monkey-like action to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 281, 105–167.
(2008). Holophrasis and the protolangauge spectrum. Interaction Studies: Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems, 9 (1), 154–168.
(2006). The mirror system and the linkage of action and language. In M. A. Arbib (Ed.), Action to language via the mirror neuron system (pp. 3–47). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Call, Josep & Michael Tomasello (Eds.) (2007). The gestural communication of apes and monkeys. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, Associates.
Cochet, Hélène & Jacques Vauclair (2010). Features of spontaneous pointing gestures in toddlers. Gesture, 10 (1), 86–107.
Gentilucci, Maurizio & Michael C. Corballis (2006). From manual gesture to speech: a gradual transition. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 301, 949–960.
Goodwin, Charles (2000). Action and embodiment within situated human interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 321, 1489–1522.
(2007). Environmentally coupled gestures. In S. D. Duncan, J. Cassell, & E. Levy (Eds.), Gesture and the dynamic dimension of language (pp. 195–212). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Hewes, Gordon W. (1973). Primate communication and the gestural origins of language. Current Anthropology, 141, 5–24.
Iverson, Jana & Susan Goldin-Meadow (2005). Gestures pave the way for language development. Pyschological Science, 161, 367–371.
Iverson, Jana & Esther Thelen (1999). Hand, mouth and brain: the dynamic emergence of speech and gesture. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 61, 19–40.
Kendon, Adam (1980). Gesticulation and speech: two aspects of the process of utterance. In M. R. Key (Ed.), The relationship of verbal and nonverbal communication (pp. 207–227). The Hague: Mouton and Co.
(1995). Gestures as illocutionary and discourse structure markers in Southern Italian conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 23 (3), 247–279.
(2009). Manual actions, speech and the nature of language. In D. Gambarara & A. Giviigliano (Eds.), Origine e sviluppo del linguaggio, fra teoria e storia (pp. 19–33). Rome: Aracne Editrice.
McComb, Karen & Stuart Semple (2005). Coevolution of vocal communication and sociality in primate. Biology Letters, 1 (4), 381–385.
Meltzoff, Andrew N. & M. Keith Moore (1977). Imitation of facial and manual gestures by human neonates. Science, 1981, 74–78.
Pika, Simone & John C. Mitani (2009). The directed scratch: evidence for a referential gesture in chimpanzees? In R. Botha & C. Knight (Eds.), The prehistory of language (pp. 166–180). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ploog, Deltev (2002). Is the neural basis of vocalization different in non-human primates and Homo sapiens?
In T. J. Crow (Ed.), The speciation of modern Homo Sapiens (pp. 121–135). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Plooij, Francis X. (1978). Some basic traits of language in wild chimpanzees? In A. Lock (Ed.), Action, gesture and symbol: the emergence of language (pp. 111–131). London: Academic Press.
Rizzolatti, Giacomo & Michael Arbib (1998). Language within our grasp. Trends in Neurosciences, 211, 188–194.
Seyfarth, Richard M., Dorothy Cheyney, & Peter Marler (1980). Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: Evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science, 2101, 801–803.
Slocombe, Katie E., Bridget M. Waller, & Katja Liebal (2011). The language void: the need for multimodality in primate communcation research. Animal Behaviour, 301, 1–6.
Streeck, Jürgen (1996). How to do things with objects: Objets trouvés and symbolization. Human Studies, 191, 365–384.
Tanner, Joanne & Richard Byrne (1996). Representation of action through iconic gesture in a captive lowland gorilla. Current Anthropology, 37 (1), 162–173.
Trevarthen, Colwyn (1979). Communication and cooperation in early infancy: a description of primary intersubjectivity. In M. Bullowa (Ed.), Before speech: the beginning of interpersonal communication (pp. 321–347). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cited by (9)
Cited by nine other publications
Müller, Cornelia
2024. Gestural mimesis as “as-if” action. In Perspectives on Pantomime [Advances in Interaction Studies, 12], ► pp. 217 ff.
Martinec, Radan
Salo, Virginia C., Pier F. Ferrari & Nathan A. Fox
Kendon, Adam
Corballis, Michael C.
Corballis, Michael C.
Corballis, Michael C.
Trevarthen, Colwyn
2015. The developmental psychology and neuropsychology of emotion in language. In Emotion in Language [Consciousness & Emotion Book Series, 10], ► pp. 3 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
