I shall propose that the semantic bridge was provided by two classes of verbs: verbs of reporting and verbs of perception. Both represent actions that are in some sense “more physical” than the true psychological verbs of thinking, hoping, remembering, etc. Both entail dual-propositional sentences. Both are likely to be of high utility in haunting-and-gathering communities where members frequently split up in their search food and need to convey to the others information about their degree of success in that search.
- Bickerton (1981), a pag.277