ABSTRACT
Some nonverbal messages are so necessary to language that they must be included in descriptions of it. An act of language is like a skilled acrobatic rider controlling a high-strung, partly-tamed horse. In reality, language is part of an all-encompassing system it overlaps other parts of the system and is overlapped by them. Every spoken word or phrase conveys meanings that are not present in the words: anger, affection, inquiry, displeasure, reassurance, uncertainty, restraint, haughtiness, submission, authority, 'moods' and 'emotions' which have to be signaled and detected if people are to know how to deal with one another. If spoken language is even today nurtured in a non-verbal womb of tones, stances, and movements which, unlike speech, are to some degree the common property of all animal life, one naturally wonders what this means for the past of language and for the possible sharing of communication with other species, particularly those closest in their evolution to human beings.
