> What did that look like? How did they make themselves understood before they shared a language? And how do those first few pantomime-like gestures transform i

> What did that look like? How did they make themselves understood before they shared a language? And how do those first few pantomime-like gestures transform into actual language, conveying an infinite array of concepts? I was born in Kuwait, where my father worked at the local university, so as an older preschooler I was free to roam the campus just like the other kids(it was the 90s) there who represented a whole spectrum of backgrounds. Truth be told we didn't have a need to talk to each other too much and it wasn't really a barrier to playing together. A lot of the activities emerged spontaneously - if two kids who happened to share a language (usually siblings) started doing something, like digging a hole or building a tower out of bricks left by construction workers, others would join and try to produce a coherent result together. For complex communication I relied on my older sister, but eventually acquired enough English vocabulary to become independent in this regard. My number one frustration was written speech because, well, at the time I couldn't write in any language, including my own.