Regulative Model of the Language Origin: Imitation, Behavioral Forms, and Semantization

The paper examines the systemic limitations of classical models of language—both representational and use-based—which describe already established linguistic practices of adult speakers and rely on written or reflective forms of language. Drawing on data from cognitive psychology, sign language research, ontogenesis, the anthropology of oral cultures, and neurolinguistics, an alternative framework is proposed: language arises primarily as a regulative mechanism of behavior aimed at minimizing ontological uncertainty and coordinating actions.

Instead of understanding language as a representation of the world or a set of rules for its use, an axiomatic model is proposed according to which imitation, bodily synchronization, and the formation of stable behavioral forms are primary mechanisms that precede semantics, grammar, and logical form. Communication and meaning are treated as derivative, later levels of stabilization of regulative processes. The model formulates a number of theoretical implications and empirical predictions, linking data from cognitive science, neuropsychology, and anthropology into a unified ontological scheme of the origin of language.