ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the two parts of Giorgio Fano's Origini e natura del linguaggio. The first part, Saggio sulle origini del linguaggio (Essay on the origins of language), deals with the problem of the origins of language, and the problem of the nature or essence of language. The second part, The Origins and Nature of Language, include the topics related to linguistics and semiotics. The nature of language may be identified in the predominance in verbal language of iconicity over indexicality and symbolicity, as these concepts are described by Charles Sanders Peirce in his identification of an iconic, an indexical, and a symbolic component in all signs. In the light of Peirce's semiotics, especially his tripartition of signs into icons, indices and symbols, Fano's research acquires noteworthy value in theoretical and documentary terms. The chapter highlights Fano's remarkable awareness, in his investigation into the origin and nature of language, of the iconic dimension of verbal communication.
