Re: CHAT: proto-language

John wrote :

Joshua Shinavier scripsit:
>
> > Do linguists generally think
> > that language emerged in one place (e.g. if the first Homo sapiens in Africa
> > had a language) and then spread, or evolved independently in several different
> > places/times?
>
> I think the majority view is that language originated only once,
> but that this event is not now recoverable, as the various language
> phyla (super-families) have differentiated so much as to make
> reconstructing their original relationships impossible.
>
You really have a knack for raising teremendously interesting issues :-) I'm
impressed by Ruhlen, Greenberg and Renfrew : they make me hope linguists and
archeologists may help know a little more about that primary relation. What do
you'll think of Ruhlen's theory (I know it only via his last popularising book)
?

Mathias



-----
See the original message at http://www.egroups.com/list/conlang/?start=19171