Verbatim quote · from the corpus

“But before the existence of linguistic paradigms, the originary object of deferral must have been the potential violence attendant on a worldly rather than a “symbolic” act. It is this aborted gesture of appropriation , designating the object but no longer directed at appropriating it, that we postulate as the first sign . This suspension of appropriative activity would convert the “theater of action” in which the hunter/scavengers confront the animal as a source of nourishment into a scene where action is for the moment impossible but the group’s attention remains jointly focused on the animal at the center. The aborted gesture would then come to be collectively understood a new form of communication, directed both at the central object itself as the first “deity” and at the other members of the group. This originary occurrence of joint shared attention would arise through the consciousness shared by the participants of both their own gesture and that of the others, coupled with the awareness that peacefully exchanging this gesture in contrast to fighting over the central object makes this new form of exchange memorable and desirable, worthy of being repeated. The idea that the sign both reproduces and participates in the “aura” or numinousness of its referent while at the same time leaving it intact is the essential structure of signification.”

— Eric Gans, The New Origin of Language: Part 1 · Saturday, February 4th, 2017 · Chronicles of Love & Resentment