The paper organizes the topic of signs in Lev Vygotsky’s various writings into a coherent whole in order to study signs’ role in child development. Vygotsky related conventional signs that have their origin in interpersonal communication, and are subject to cultural history taking place over generations during historical time, to psychological functioning of individual human beings. Vygotsky’s “natural history of signs” is the study of how symbolic activity appears and develops. The paper outlines the process of inclusion of symbols within the behaviour of the child and gives an account of various changes in psychological functions and their interrelations that it brings along. In cultural development specifically human forms of behaviour appear, and children’s relationship to social and material environment is changed qualitatively. Vygotsky outlines the formation of sign use and analyses its developmental steps. Vygotsky’s approach explains how the use of various sign systems shapes both the cognitive processes in the person, the child, and the cognitive development as a whole. Vygotsky’s approach to signs is presented within the conceptual framework of its time.

中文翻译：

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维果斯基的自然标志史

为了研究标志在儿童发展中的作用，本文将列夫·维果茨基的各种著作中的标志主题组织为一个连贯的整体。与维果斯基相关的传统标志起源于人际交往，并且受制于历史时期内几代人的文化历史，并受制于个人的心理功能。维果斯基的“自然标志史”是对象征活动如何出现和发展的研究。本文概述了将符号包含在儿童行为中的过程，并说明了心理功能的各种变化及其带来的相互关系。在文化发展中，特别是人类的行为形式出现，儿童与社会和物质环境的关系发生质的变化。Vygotsky概述了标志使用的形成并分析了其发展步骤。维果斯基的方法解释了各种符号系统的使用如何塑造人，孩子的认知过程以及整个认知发展。维果斯基的标志方法在其时间概念框架内提出。