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Re: CHAT: proto-language

From:Raymond A. Brown <raybrown@...>
Date:Friday, December 11, 1998, 21:41
At 9:48 am -0500 11/12/98, John Cowan 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?
Both views are encountered and will probably continue to be argued over.
>I think the majority view is that language originated only once,
This is probably the majority view. I think it's generally believed that Homo (Sapiens) Sapiens always had language - though arguments will doubtless continue over the nature of the 'Ursprach'. Whether Homo (Sapiens) Neanderthalis had language is far more controversial and IMHO unlikely.
>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.
Absolutely. I have seen various fantastic "universal family trees" of languages - I remember one which put Basque & some Amerind languages on the ends of one branch! - but they are IMO merely idle speculations with almost no substance. At 4:39 pm +0000 11/12/98, Mathias M. Lassailly wrote:
>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 :
I'm not familar with Ruhlen and it's a while since I've looked ar Renfrew, but I never been overimpressed by Greenberg. Ray.