In Part 2, we explored combinatorial play: how early protolanguage sequences expand expressive flexibility, coordinate multiple participants, and stabilise emergent conventions. By juxtaposing and recombining signals, protolanguage creates the first semiotic structures capable of representing absent, hypothetical, or socially negotiated phenomena.
The next step is the emergence of holistic, unstratified meaning systems: the fully operational semiotic structures that precede stratified language.
Holistic semantic acts
Protolanguage sequences do more than string signals together. They begin to function as holistic semantic acts:
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Each sequence construes a situation in its entirety, rather than only conveying a single referent or affect.
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Meaning remains undifferentiated: affect, reference, and social function are still bundled together.
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Each act is interpreted in context, drawing upon shared knowledge and construal practices.
At this stage, the system is not yet stratified into lexicogrammar and semantics. Yet it is fully capable of coordinating complex meaning across interactions.
Abstract reference emerges
With holistic acts, protolanguage can begin to represent absent or hypothetical entities:
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Food sources at a distance
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Predators not currently present
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Future actions or plans
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Social relationships and alliances
These representations are relational: meaning arises from the selection of signals within a shared repertoire, not from the signals themselves. The system is still unstratified, but it already mediates understanding beyond immediate experience.
System expansion and differentiation
As the repertoire and combinatorial sequences grow, the semiotic system becomes richer and more complex:
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New signals are added, creating finer contrasts and distinctions.
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Sequences become longer and more structured, increasing expressive potential.
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Participants learn to anticipate and interpret complex sequences flexibly, stabilising conventions and expanding shared construal.
This expansion lays the foundation for the structural differentiation that stratified language will later formalise.
Protolanguage as a semiotic infrastructure
At this stage, protolanguage functions as a semiotic infrastructure:
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It is a system of potential from which instances of meaning can be drawn.
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Each interaction both actualises and shapes the system.
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Meaning is relational, emergent, and flexible, supporting increasingly sophisticated coordination.
In relational-ontology terms, protolanguage is a theory of its instances: each selection realises potential, and each realisation in turn constrains and expands potential.
Preparing for stratification
The unstratified system of protolanguage is now poised for the next transformation:
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Holistic acts will eventually differentiate into lexicogrammar and semantics, separating form from meaning.
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The system will acquire the combinatorial power of productivity, enabling abstraction, reference, and complex discourse.
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Participants will gain the capacity to reflect on, analyse, and manipulate meaning itself, setting the stage for fully stratified language and, eventually, reflexive semiosis.
In short, protolanguage is the bridge between protosemiosis and stratified language. It transforms minimal semiotic potential into a robust, flexible system capable of sustaining the evolution of structured meaning.
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