ABSTRACT
The emergence of a new sign language in Nicaragua over the past 25 years provides an opportunity to examine the relationship between intercohort contact and individual development in their link to historical language change. This chapter examines these forces in contemporary circumstances as they set a new language in motion. In Nicaragua, we have observed that a new sign language emerged only after a potential speech community (Gumperz, 1968) of older and younger members was brought together. The resulting development of the new language suggests that the interactions across age cohorts are crucial in language emergence. We propose, then, that language genesis requires at least two age cohorts of a community in sequence, the first providing the shared symbolic environment upon which the later cohorts can build. It requires the capacities of both children and adults to create a viable new language.
