Commentary: (Dis-)Continuity, (Inter-) Corporeality and Conventionality In Dialogical Development: Commentary on Gratier & Bertau and Lyra

Maya Gratier and Marie-Cécile Bertau (2012) concisely state, at the beginning of their chapter, what can be understood as the common theme informing both their research and that of Maria Lyra (2012): “symbol formation,” they write, “is bound to self formation in a mutual development which is itself inseparable from dialogical practices. Self and symbols are commonly traced back to joint practices and to the temporal dynamics these practices undergo through performances by mutually addressing partners” (Gratier & Bertau, 2012, p. 86). These authors, then, address a fundamental and complex developmental problem: the ontogenetic and systemic-dynamic roots of the nexus binding symbolization, dialogicality and subjectivity.