In defence of the multimodal hypothesis of language origin and evolution
Svetlana T.davidova
January 2022 

Attempts to understand the current dominance of speech as the universally preferred modality , have produced models which assume unimodal beginnings of language, either in non-human vocalizations or gestures. These stem from linguistic paradigms featuring language as a system designed and evolved for codifying the complexity of human thought in elaborate and intricate grammatical structures, demonstrated mainly in written texts. In this context spontaneous linguistic exchanges in dialogues , universally demonstrated by all humans at all times are excluded from consideration both by linguists and evolutionary linguists. As a result the road from non-human communication to the complexities and intricacies of modern languages used in service of advanced civilization has proven to be a major stumbling stone for evolutionary linguistics and often referred to in terms of miracles or just-so stories. In breaking with the tradition, I argue that the language system is best represented by spontaneous dialogues of the average adult normal human. Language is a system for exchange of information by continuous communicative interactions by dialogues. Spontaneous dialogues are subconsciously accompanied by non-linguistic communicative body movements, which are multimodal , mostly instinctive, reactions as active participants in spoken dialogues by adding and/or clarifying the linguistic message. Thus, linguistic communication, most often articulated by speech, is part, although a major part, of a human communicative complex, or ecosystem which includes multimodal non-linguistics signals e.g. facial expressions, body movements, manual gesticulations, e.g. pointing , etc. Human communication is a multimodal complex and language is explicable only as part of it. Given the latest findings that multimodality in non-human communication is the norm in species and given the assumption of continuity, genetic, epigenetic, developmental, cognitive, communicative, of humans as a life form, despite the prevalent attitudes of human superiority based on unmatched linguistic abilities, I argue that the most realistic explanation of the evolution of language as behaviour and innate abilities, is in terms of restructuring of the non-human multimodal communicative complex by giving priority to vocalizations and the evolution of speech, as behavioural evolution, and subsequent adaptation of human cognition and physiology as evolutionary target aiming to facilitate this behaviour. Hypotheses of language evolution featuring multimodality are to preferred to unimodal explanations.

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Reference:	lingbuzz/006428 (please use that when you cite this article)
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keywords:	language system, linguistic communication, language capacity, language origins, multimodality, primate communication, language evolution, semantics, syntax
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