Pre-language

An absolute proto-language, as defined by linguist Derek Bickerton, is a primitive form of communication lacking:
* a fully-developed syntax
* tense, aspect, auxiliary verbs, etc.
* a closed (i.e. non-lexical) vocabulary

The "me Tarzan, you Jane" nature of proto-language in this last sense is evident in pidgins, some features of early childhood language, and the language of adults who were deprived of language during the critical period (such as the feral child Genie). Derek Bickerton suggests language evolved from this kind of proto-language in a linguistic 'big bang'. But see also Terrence Deacon's arguments in his book The Symbolic Species for a radically different point of view.

Steven Mithen (2006) proposes the term Hmmmmm for the pre-linguistic system of communication used by archaic Homo (beginning with Homo ergaster and reaching the highest sophistification with Homo neanderthalensis. Mithen's Hmmmmm is an acronym, holistic (non-compositional), manipulative (utterances are commands or suggestions, not descriptive statements), multi-modal (acoustic as well as gestural and mimetic), and memetic.

Literature
*T. Givón, The evolution of language out of pre-language, Typological studies in language, vol. 53, Amsterdam : John Benjamins (2002), ISBN 1-58811-237-3.
*Steven Mithen, The Singing Neanderthals: the Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body (2006).

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