Not the same difference at all. Nobody would argue that a child doesn't use metainfo during language acquisition, whether it's inborn or supplied by the people around him. But I've never heard anyone argue that complex, nested grammar had to exist first in order for words to give rise to language, historically speaking.
[[But I’ve never heard anyone argue that complex, nested grammar had to exist first in order for words to give rise to language, historically speaking. ]]
The issue is that polanyi is using a non living system to describe living systems and how they must have coem about naturally. As well, while the Grammar didn’t need to exist in order for words to come about, the species did have metainfo already established that was able to make sense of language and to understand how to use it. The child learnign to speak also has the metainfo present to make sense of the sounds they hear, and to organize them into useful meanings. You and polanyi are assuming that the grammar and language are the metainfo, when in reality, the metainfo is what allows us to utilize those three steps- The steps of livign organisms however are much more complex than language- so it’s really not valid to try to claim three steps of language represent livign system hiararchy’s