Processes of Elaboration: The Taxonomic Principle in Speech and Sign

Any language or sign system may be thought of as a technology of communication (the product of a number of general human capacities) rather than the reflection of a specialized language faculty or cluster of language faculties. Further, the individual’s knowledge and use of language and other signs may be seen as dependent upon a number of general capacities. This technology of communication is elaborated through time, just as other technologies are. One of the major factors at work in the elaboration is the taxonomic principle: “similar meanings are expressed in similar forms.”