Re: My languages

>From: Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
>Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 19:35:46 -0500
>
>Adam Walker wrote:
> > So what gender are infants and the mute?  If they aren't concidered
>sentient
> > are they gender 4???
>
>Yep.
>
> > That'd be pretty perverse, but the Utakassi are
> > primatives, aren't they?
>
>I wouldn't call them primitive.  They're not at our level of
>development, but they certainly have metal.  Bronze age or so.
>
>Lots of languages place infants in non-human categories.  For that
>matter, I've even heard native English speakers refer to infants as
>"it".  And unborn children are often called "it", especially by
>pro-abortionists.  It's all a matter of where you consider the quality
>of "human" to begin.  The Kassi consider that to begin with the
>acquisition of speech.  In our culture, most people consider it to begin
>either at birth or some point before birth.
>
>When you think about it, there is a logic to the Kassi view.  Language
>is one of the major characteristics which distinguish humans from
>animals.  So, in a sense, the acquisition of language is the entrance
>into humanity.
>
>Note, I'm not saying I agree with them, only that there's a logic.  :-)
Sorry if I came off as a bit judgemental or harsh in that post.  It's a bit
sensative for me since I have a lot of Deaf friends and one of them is going
through a situation like this with his family.  They don't seem to veiw him
as quite human judging by they way they treat him in public.  I found myself
hoping he'd punch his brother-in-law's lights out the other day.  No way on
God's green earth I'd let another human being treat me that way.  So, I see
the *logic* of the Kassi view played out a bit to vividly IRL.  It's not at
all hard for me to imagine it really occurring or the results of such a
conception for the mute.  I think it adds realism to your Kassi and as such
it is a good thing.  It just happens to be a reality that I'm trying to help
a friend deal with at present.  TMI?

Adam


>
>--
>"There's no such thing as 'cool'.  Everyone's just a big dork or nerd,
>you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." -
>overheard
>ICQ: 18656696
>AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42

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