How does the EGO form?

hello Order and Moonbear,
I just want to jump in here quickly before I head off to work (sorry I haven't replied earlier) but I'm actually happy to see Moonbear's contributing to this thread. I actually feel partly responsible for taking this thread in the animal consciousness direction, but here's why I think it must be addressed in the overall topic of ego formation (as Order put it). We've been talking about the ego as if it is the mental representation of our physical selves. We've been talking about those mental representations as essentially being able to "see" mental images and "hear" what we call an inner monologue. I've been using the word 'conscious' (as defined in detail by Julian Jaynes in link on page one) (or 'florid thought' as used by Daniel Dennett) as being able to see and hear those two mental representations. What we've been talking about recently is whether or not which animals, if any, have this ability as well. I'm more inclined to believe they don't, Order is arguing that some might. The problem is that since other animals cannot communicate using a language (if they are even capable of something we can even call a language), we are stuck using anecdotal evidence to argue those points. That's more for the philosophy section, imo. (Order, I see you're discussing a similar topic elsewhere in the philosophy section and I might jump in there later)

Now to hopefully add some more direction here I might ask a question stemming from the problem I brought up earlier. What exactly is the role of language in the forming of this mental phenomena? I am not able to conjur up mental images of any time period of my life before I was able to speak, yet, I am able to perform actions that I learned prior. Is there any correllation there? Would you say that is the starting point for those pshychologist that argue that the role of language is essential to ego formation?

Hope you don't mind I've jumped in here, Order.
edit: grammer