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Re: Sapir-WhorFreakiness

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Saturday, August 21, 2004, 5:48
Mark P. Line scripsit:

> A genetic defect is one possibility, I suppose. Perhaps something very odd > happened during the evolution of this language. (I dunno, pidginization > followed by stunted creolization, with lexifiers and substrates all lost > in the meantime. Or something. *shrug*)
Well, that itself would be informative: it would bash whatever remains of the Bickerton bioprogram into a bloody pulp.
> Alternatively, maybe there is an additional cultural constraint that > cannot, due to its nature, be discovered by outsiders: "Don't talk > straight with outsiders."
That was my first thought. But how could they be so consistent, including even the children? I'd rather believe in a pervasive genetic defect than a pervasive conspiracy.
> 2. Never mention color.
This is the one of your six rules I just can't swallow. How would they know how important basic color terms are to us? -- You are a child of the universe no less John Cowan than the trees and all other acyclic http://www.reutershealth.com graphs; you have a right to be here. http://www.ccil.org/~cowan --DeXiderata by Sean McGrath jcowan@reutershealth.com

Replies

Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
Mark P. Line <mark@...>