| 释义 |
protolinˈguistic, a.
[f. proto- + linguistic a.]
Descriptive of communication or signs which are understood without the use of verbal language (see quot. 1964); of communication, etc., from which language is presumed to have developed. Also, relating to the study of proto-language. Hence protolinˈguistics n. pl.
1964Discovery Oct. 32/3 Those [sc. symbols]..which are commonly translated into or from ordinary language; and those which are not so translated—like clothes, architectural design and furniture... We are concerned here with symbols of this latter kind and with behaviour to which a meaning is attached when it occurs in a specific setting. In both these kinds of strictly non-verbal communication we are dealing with messages which are not para-linguistic, but proto-linguistic. 1975M. Critchley in E. H. & E. Lenneberg Foundations Lang. Devel. I. i. 6 One point must..be kept well to the fore when ruminating upon this topic of protolinguistics. From an anatomic, physiological angle, speech is a parasitic function. 1976R. W. Wescott in Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. CCLXXX. 104 As used here, the term ‘protolinguistics’ will mean the analytic and comparative study of protolanguages. Ibid. 115 Some protolinguistic problems, finally, are due almost exclusively to lack of information. 1978Sci. Amer. Apr. 104/3 If, as I suppose, the hominids under observation communicated only as chimpanzees do or perhaps by means of very rudimentary protolinguistic signals, then the observer might feel he was witnessing the activities of some kind of fascinating bi-pedal ape. |