Linguistic Bodies

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This work presents a novel theoretical framework for an embodied, non-representational approach to language, enhancing enactive theory by linking sensorimotor skills with linguistic capabilities. It offers a fully embodied and social perspective on human language, rejecting the notion of mental representations. The authors propose a comprehensive theory that integrates dynamical explanations of action and perception with language, emphasizing the deep continuity between life and mind, which extends to language itself. They provide a constitutive account of language alongside the co-emergent phenomena of personhood, reflexivity, social normativity, and ideality. Language is framed not as an addition to cognitive capacities but as a fundamental aspect of embodiment. The text identifies three interconnected forms of human embodiment: organic, sensorimotor, and intersubjective. It examines the development of linguistic sensitivities and introduces the concept of linguistic bodies, discussing the implications of existing as linguistic bodies in a state of perpetual becoming. The exploration includes topics such as language acquisition, parenting, autism, grammar, symbol, narrative, gesture, and ethical issues like microaggression, institutional speech, and pedagogy.