The Morphogenesis of Language: 1 From Gesture to Signal — The Emergence of Shared Semiotic Fields

Language begins not with words, but with gestures, vocalisations, and patterned behaviours — the earliest semiotic actualisations of collective potential. These proto-signals are more than mere cues; they are morphogenetic events, aligning individual construals into a shared field of meaning.

In this emergent semiotic field, the sender and receiver are co-constituted. A gesture does not merely transmit information; it shapes the perception and interpretation of others, eliciting responses that fold back into the field. Each act of communication is thus both interpretive and productive, a recursive loop in which individuals negotiate collective coherence.

The earliest communicative acts are constrained by bodily affordances, ecological pressures, and social contingencies. Yet within these constraints, patterns emerge: repeated signals become stabilised, differentiated, and recognisable. The proto-language of a social group is a field of possibility actualised in action, a topology in which individual gestures are integrated into collective alignment.

Crucially, this shared semiotic space enables anticipation and coordination. A signal for food, danger, or social engagement is meaningful not in isolation, but in the context of a field that interprets and responds. Through repeated interaction, these early signals construct a communal reflexivity, the first phase of language as a morphogenetic system.

In short, the emergence of language is the actualisation of relational potential through collective semiotics. Gestures become signals, signals become patterns, and patterns become the scaffolds of shared understanding — the first steps toward a symbolic cosmos.