Over the past couple of decades or so Michael Tomasello has made a compelling case for the crucial role of joint attention in the phylogeny and ontogeny of human language (e.g. 1999, The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; and 2014, A natural history of human thinking. Cambridge Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press.). He argues that sharing of attention is a key prerequisite to the emergence of shared intentionality, which he sees as a central development in the evolution of language in the human species, without which neither language nor the socially-based human cognition could have emerged. Reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes’ feat in The resident patient (Adventure VIII in Doyle 1894) Tomasello identifies pointing and eye-gaze as cues used by the child in its acquisition of joint attention. Joint attention in Tomasello’s scheme has a facilitative role, manifested in associations with the linguistic system (e.g. the grammatical category of subject is construed as a cluster of characteristics that correlate with joint attention). This paper takes the story a step further, and argues that joint attention is not just a phenomenon external to the language system with structuring consequences to language. It presents evidence that joint attention is integrated into the fabric of language, that is, into grammar. Some implications are discussed to grammatical theory and the coming into being of grammatical constructions and categories.

William B. McGregor