Investigating the development of consciousness through ostensions toward oneselffrom the onset of the use-of-object to first words

This paper considers the development of consciousness in a pragmatic and semiotic perspective. Grounded in Vygotsky’s pivotal cultural-historical conception of sign, the role of nonverbal signs through ostensions involving an object that infants address to themselves is investigated, evidencing the link between the material world and the development of the human psyche. The main functions of such ostensions which have been identified are presented and an analysis of the meaning-making processes underlying these functions is suggested.