From Performative Act to Performative Utterance: An Ethological Perspective

This paper deals with the early stages in human communicative development which are preparatory to accommodating its linguistic component. The focus is on human behavioral development from simple expression of physiological needs to social communication. Vocal language involves bodily functions linked to cognitive capacities through skilled use of the respiratory system. Vocal tract activity is linked to movement of other body parts in ways that contribute to communication. Gruber’s concept of “performative utterance” in child language (1967) was based on audio-visual recordings of one child. Earlier data from this child, of behavior leading to the performative utterances of the Gruber corpus, as well as data from another child, have been searched for the performative action that is described in this paper. Performatives at these early ages express desire and intention. For the two children studied and in the situations observed and recorded, important conditions for the emergence of language in the ontogeny of communication appear to be (1) interaction with caretaking adults, (2) shared focal attention, and (3) specificity of reference.