Meaning Creation in Multimodal Communication with Specific Reference to Sound Symbolism and Language Evolution

Multimodal communication has contributed significantly to shaping the world we are living in. A hidden advantage of multimodal communication is that it can also help us shape our understanding of the distant past, offering insights into language evolution. This is the argument that this paper develops by making an attempt to establish connections among different vehicles of meaning creation, including sound symbolism. Interestingly, multimodal communication as such creates conditions similar to the ones that were existent when proto language or signs thereof began to appear hundreds of years ago. An obvious difference is that such contemporary conditions stem from technological progress which allows the combination and simultaneous use of different modes of communication. A closer look at what appears on the screen during an ongoing online meeting reveals a striking similarity with respect to the types of resources the speaker has when creating and receiving meaning. It is argued that such resources could shed light on some aspects of language evolution. The speaker has access to different types of signs, including their own speech melody or intonation, to create, receive and interpret meaning in the form of a series of signs or a series of sounds, or both combined.