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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. -- "If all Printers were determin'd not to print any thing till they were sure it would offend no body, there would be very little printed" - Benjamin Franklin http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/X-Files/ http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Books.html ICQ #: 18656696 AIM screen-name: NikTailor