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.