Re: THEORY: Question about the evolution of language
From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
Date: | Tuesday, September 7, 1999, 11:39 |
Boudewijn Rempt wrote:
> But they had knowledge of communication and probably of language,
> too - if you'd just dump babies with a group of deaf & dumb adults
> who have been forbidden to communicate, I don't think the idea of
> communication would arise.
I disagree, I think that language is such a fundamental part of human
nature that language would *have* to arise. I have a hard time
imagining how spoken words could be evolved, but I could see how sign
language could evolve out of a sophisticated game of charades (which is
essentially the origin of Nicaraguan Sign Language).
Of course, there's no way to prove this since, fortunately, no one has
ever done this experiment.
--
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sure it would offend no body, there would be very little printed" -
Benjamin Franklin
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