WHAT WERE WE TALKING ABOUT? EXCHANGING SOCIAL MODELS AS A ROUTE TO LANGUAGE

ion: I have to be able to see another individual as separate from my relationships with that other, so that I can model the relationship between that other and third parties. Awareness of Self: I am a third party in the modelling of others, so A-Relationship-B constructs offered to me may include me as A or B. To incorporate these offered constructs I have to be able to model myself as a third party. Awareness of Selfness: By modelling myself as a third party, I am able to see my self from an external perspective. This carries with it all the concomitant advantages and disadvantages of Machiavellian Intelligence, but applied reflexively. Differentiation: The second of the four features of language. The “atoms” of cognition can have different roles in the construction of thoughts. In the minimal case of language (as conceived here), “words” can represent entities or relationships between entities. Dispassionate Self: By modelling myself as a third party, I can treat my self as I treat other third parties. First Person: Probably the last of the language “voices” to emerge. Allows me to represent my self in utterances made to others. Full Language: A deeply deceptive term as language is, even today, a developing system. It represents the end of the story being told here, but it should not be seen as a complete, terminal state. Grammatical Hierarchy: The third of the four features of language. The “atoms” of cognition can be combined to make composite units which behave in many ways like “atoms”. Lexis: “Words” represent a relationship between phonology and meaning. In this they differ from “atoms” of cognition, which have no phonology. Modality: Utterances can have conditionality (they are true if.); they can have perspective (they are true to some individuals and not others); they can have fictionality (they are What Were We Talking About? Exchanging Social Models As A Route To Language 10 true only within a non-existent scenario). If one type of modality is possible for a species, all types are possible. Physical Culture: A species which is able to transmit physical survival skills between individuals by teaching and learning has a physical culture. The transmission of termite fishing between female chimpanzees and their offspring is an example of this. Qualifier-A Grammar: Instead of representing my relationship with A, I can express it as an attribute of A (e.g. “hates Bagginses” becomes “nasty Bagginses”). Recursion (Merge): The fourth of the four features of language. Hierarchy can occur at multiple levels: composite units can contain composite units. The Hauser-ChomskyFitch (2002) proposal sees recursion as a language-related evolutionary event, but this proposal sees it as emergent from hierarchy and attribution of received utterances, with a genetic explanation outside of language. Relationship+A Cognition: I have models in my mind of my relationships with other individuals in the group. As the models represent my actual relationships, the binding between the imaged individual and my relationship with them is strong. Relationship-A Cognition: I have models in my mind of my relationships with other individuals in the group. The reverse-dominance cultural environment means that my relationships are contingent and variable, so the binding between the imaged individual and my relationship to them is weak. Relationship-A Grammar: I am expressing my Relationship-A cognition verbally, so I need a segmented and differentiated system with which to do this. Second Person: Probably the second of the language “voices” to emerge. Allows me to represent the receiver as a special class of “they”. This permits referential dialogue, and “talking to” as an enhancement to “talking about”. Segmentation: The first of the four features of language. Utterances are composed of “atoms” of cognition, they are not monolithic correspondences between thought and signal. Semiotics: Joint attention allows the emergence of shared representation. This, in turn, requires a shared convention of representation. Social Culture: A species which is able to transmit social conventions between individuals has a social culture. The social conventions do not directly enhance individual fitness, but they create social inclusion for the individual, which indirectly enhances their fitness. Burial practices provide an example of this. Temporality of Future: Being able to reference events which are in the past, coupled with modality, allows reference to events which are yet to happen. All that is needed is a social convention to identify future events. Temporality of Past: Being able to refer to events which are not present means being able to refer to events which are not current. All that is needed is a social convention of how to differentiate current non-present events from non-current non-present events. Third Person: Probably the first of the language “voices” to emerge. Allows me to represent others as entities, initially in my cognition and later in my signalling.