Was this written by someone without kids? In early childhood development pointing at items is referred to as "shared thinking". If a lion is charging at you in the jungle and you point at it the shared thought is "danger! He's coming to eat us!" or general concept.
Alternatively if you're playing with your 8 month old nephew and point at the red ball, he'll grab it and give it to you. If you wait four more months and say "ball" he'll do the same thing. Both approaches work but pointing with your hands comes much, much earlier in the development process.
another perspective to the shared thinking is that if a lion is charging at you in the jungle, there very first thing isn't conceptual; it's just fear which will immediately coordinate any mammals in the group to run or prepare to fight.
I say this because I know some dogs are able to learn the ball thing too, oh and the fear thing is part of how i communicate with my dog.
Alternatively if you're playing with your 8 month old nephew and point at the red ball, he'll grab it and give it to you. If you wait four more months and say "ball" he'll do the same thing. Both approaches work but pointing with your hands comes much, much earlier in the development process.