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Re: glossogenesis (was: Indo-European question)

From:John Cowan <cowan@...>
Date:Sunday, June 24, 2001, 5:13
Tommie L Powell scripsit:

> Before > tribalization, no band -- no seasonally migrating group of from > 50 to 150 people -- could have spoken much differently from > any other nearby band, since each band had to communicate > with each other such band at various food sources where > their separate annual migratory circuits overlapped.
This is the Functionalist Fallacy, the assumption that people do things solely to make their lives better in straightforward material ways. We observe in Europe today -- or India, even more markedly -- that village dialects are carefully maintained by people who have every reason to speak *with* the nimnos down-river, but wouldn't be caught dead speaking *like* them. -- John Cowan cowan@ccil.org One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore --Douglas Hofstadter