is a feature of lovemaking in humans (Stern 1977),as it is in copulation
in bonobos (de Waal 1989).In humans,love songs and courtship speech
use childish words and refer to childish things to create and display
intimacy,for example,the “tu”form of discourse,and popular songs
that express sentiments such as “Cuddle up a little closer,”or “Baby,
I love you.”
Smiling,which is first developed ontogenetically between infant and
mother,becomes in adult social interactions a universally used means
of appeasement and affiliation,along with other facial expressions and
movements common in mother-infant interchange:looking at the other,
eyebrow raising and flashing,and bobbing the head up and down (see
also page 391 and the discussion in Schelde and Hertz 1994).Many adult
mammals assume infantile postures and make infantile sounds to deflect
aggression.
I suggest that the biologically endowed sensitivities and competencies
of mother-infant interaction were found by evolving human groups to be
emotionally affecting and functionally effective when used and when
further shaped and elaborated in culturally created ceremonial rituals
where they served a similar purpose—to attune or synchronize,emo-
tionally conjoin,and enculturate the participants.These unifying and
pleasurable features (maintained in children’s play;see below) made up
a sort of behavioral reservoir from which human cultures could appro-
priate appealing and compelling components for communal ceremonial
rituals that similarly promoted affiliation and congruence in adult social
life.^9 These features were then developed,culturally codified,and,in
some societies,even emancipated,as music,as satisfactions in their own
right,apart from ceremonial contexts.Ceremonies,Temporal Arts,and Early Interactions
There are,of course,countless examples in premodern and modern soci-
eties of the use in ritual ceremonies of temporal sequences,usually inte-
grating several simultaneous sensory modalities (i.e.,temporal arts),
whose structural and expressive elements resemble those of mother-
infant engagement and that also acculturate and unify.As with inter-
actions between mothers and infants,ceremonial rituals may use
alternation and imitation as a way to create or express understanding
and unity,or individuals may perform the same actions concurrently and
also thereby create and confirm unity (e.g.,Basso 1985).
Even societies that are poor in material culture or the visual arts
engage in the temporal arts.For example,the Tikopia in the South Seas
have relatively undeveloped plastic arts,but their music,poetry,and
dance display a range of variation and elaborate articulation with many
nuances of form and expression (Firth 1973).The people of Alor pay401 Antecedents of the Temporal Arts