But in the absence of such a conceptual
premise, inferences, mine or anybody else's, are meaningless.
The distinctions introduced above point to the need to consider
at least three stages before we can refer to language: 1.
integration in the group of one's kind in direct forms of
interaction: touching, passing objects from one to another,
recognition through sounds, gestures, satisfying instinctual
drives; 2.
awareness of differences and similarities expressed in direct
ways: comparison by juxtaposition, equalization by physical
adjustment; 3.
stabilization of expressions of sameness or difference, making
them part of the practical act.
From the time same and different were perceived in their degree
of generality, directness and immediateness was progressively
lost. Layers of understanding, together with rules for
generating coherent expressions, were accumulated, checked
against an infinity of concrete situations, related to signs
still used (objects, sounds, gestures, colors, etc.), and freed
from the demand of unequivocal or univocal meaning. All these
means of expression were socialized in the process of production
(the making of artifacts, hunting, fishing, plowing, etc.) and
self-reproduction until they became language. Once they became
language-talked about things and actions-this language removed
itself from the objects and the making or doing. This removal
made it appear more and more as a given, an entity in itself, a
reality to fear or enjoy, to use or compare one's actions to the
actions of others.
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