Consciousness and Language. Wilhelm Wundt, the Growth Point and the current Debate on the Origin of Syntax
Abstract
The present article aims to establish a relationship between consciousness and syntax by tracing the genesis of syntax back to the activity of consciousness. From this standpoint, the theoretical model of Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) and the notion of the Growth Point will be considered. The Growth Point, as introduced by David McNeill into the current debate, will be examined by explicitly tracing it back to Wundt. It will be argued that Wundt has the merit of integrating the cognitive-linguistic aspects of communication with the traditional philosophical question of consciousness and apperception. Subsequently, it will be contended that a part of the current debate develops and confirms this conceptual framework, albeit from the vantage point of other theoretical tools, as suggested by the notion of mindreading. The efficacy of the communicative process can be justified in terms of the intersubjective structure of consciousness that presides over mindreading activities and, concomitantly, over the formation of the Self and the activation of action plans. The involvement of multiple persons, that consciousness implies, justifies first the emergence of gestural syntax and, subsequently, linguistic syntax.
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