ABSTRACT
Before we undertake our discussion of the ontogenesis of depiction via the medium of vocal forms, we wish to remind the reader that the presentation here is guided by the concept of development and does not constitute a resume of behaviors ordered chronologically. At this time, when empirical data are still quite sparse and fragmentary, it would be presumptuous to claim more than the fact that available observations appear, on the whole, to justify our thesis that vocal representation undergoes changes in accordance with the orthogenetic principle of increasing differentiation and hierarchic integration. One might add further that since speech development can rarely, if ever, be examined under conditions completely optimal for that development, the “ideal” ontogenesis of speech will always, to some degree, have to be “reconstructed.”
