12 The Priority of Language in World-Disclosure Back to the Beginnings in Childhood Lawrence J. Hatab In this chapter I argue for the phenomenological priority of language, which means that the disclosure of the world is gathered in language, not ob- jects, perception, thought, or consciousness. I draw on a two-volume work of mine, which aims to deploy Heidegger’s early phenomenology in a new way and connect it with the generative question of child development and the role that literacy has played in philosophical misconceptions about the full nature of language (Hatab 2017; 2019). It is important to stress that the priority of language here is not a matter of linguistic idealism. The key to my case is overcoming a “lexical” picture of language that concentrates on word tokens as such—which is a product of written graphics—in favor of what I call “dwelling in speech,” wherein language is originally a mat- ter of face-to-face speech in the midst of social, embodied practices in an environing-world, an ecological nexus that cannot be reduced to mere words or individual utterances. 1 Proto-Phenomenology and the Lived World I use the term proto-phenomenology to focus on the “ frst” world of lived engagement with other persons and the everyday affairs of life in surround- ing environments—that which precedes philosophical refection and evinces its own modes of intelligibility. Unlike some versions of phenomenology, my approach does not begin with abstract notions of consciousness, intentional- ity, intuition, constitution, synthesis, qualia, or any preconceived project of cognitive grounding. Proto-phenomenology does not aim to provide sense for an otherwise inchoate world; rather, it articulates the already operative sense of factical life, the concrete embeddedness in meaningful activities that mark pre-refective existence. What is shown in the factical lived world? We must begin with evident conditions that anyone would recognize as normally pertaining to human existence. Therein we are embodied beings surrounded by natural and cul- tural environments. We have desires, needs, concerns, and interests driven by the assignments of life. We possess habits, capacities, and practical skills (know-how) that enable dealings with things and other people. Aspects of the world are opened up by a host of feelings, moods, perceptions, and