generativity

The chapter explores the neuropsychological evolution of human cognition, emphasizing the development of cerebral lateralization with a focus on the left hemisphere's dominance in language and generativity. It contrasts traditional localizationist and modular theories with more integrative views that highlight the left hemisphere's unique computational style linked to praxis and toolmaking, while acknowledging the right hemisphere's significant but distinct role in language comprehension, prosody, and discourse. The discussion integrates evidence from anatomical asymmetries, split-brain studies, and cognitive theory to argue for a nuanced bilateral involvement in language and cognition rather than exclusive left-hemisphere dominance.

The chapter critically examines the cognitive capabilities of humans in the absence of language, using neurological cases to show that many cognitive functions remain intact despite language loss. It challenges the notion of a specialized, independent grammar module and questions the localization of generativity and complex cognitive skills exclusively in the left hemisphere. Emphasizing a modular approach, the chapter highlights the importance of prelinguistic human capacities such as gesture, toolmaking, and social intelligence, and calls for an interdisciplinary perspective integrating anthropology and biology to better understand brain lateralization and language evolution.

The chapter 'Mimetic Skill' explores mimetic skill as a foundational cognitive ability predating language, characterized by intentional, self-initiated representational acts that go beyond mere imitation or mimicry. It highlights the role of mimetic representation in early human culture, social communication, and the arts, emphasizing its generativity, communicativity, and symbolic reference, which underpin the emergence of language and complex cultural expressions such as storytelling and mythic imagination.