Re: Why grammar is so complex a subject

Gary Shannon wrote:
> --- R A Brown <ray@...> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>>Such a sophisticated set of tasks is carried out
>>with unsophisticated
>>grunts and gestures? No, it doesn't fit well for me.
>>
>
>
> I have no trouble believing that Neandrathal had
> sophisticated language.
Good.

> What I do have trouble
> belieiving is the apparent implication by some posters
> that on Tuesday night, Aug. 14, 896,351 B.C. there was
> no language and on the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 15,
> 896,351 B.C. All the homonids woke up to find they had
> a fully developed language.
I was not aware that the Julian calendar (still less the Gregorian
calendar,) was in use in 896 351 BCE. Nor have I read any mails on this
list which has suggested that one day hominids had no language & the
next day they did. That seems to me rather like suggesting that one
night a group of pre-hominids went to sleep and woke up in the morning
as fully developed hominids - not a credible scenario IMO.

I would, however, question whether there was ever a time when _hominids_
did not have language.

> Either that improbable scenario is true, OR there was,
> for some period of time, something intermediate
> between no language and sophisticated language. If not
> "grunts and gestures" then some other intermediate
> form.
Of course there must have been intermediate period as hominids evolved
from their pre-hominid forebears. I firmly believe that the development
of human language was part and parcel of the whole process of
noogenesis. I suspect there will always be gaps in our knowledge
concerning the long process of noogenesis. I certainly do not claim to
have all the answers.

> Unless, of course, people are arguing for
> intervention by space aliens or some kind of
> linguistic creationism.
I have not read any mails that suggest either scenario.

Indeed, in my case, I wrote on the 29th Dec.:"Pardon me, but I do not
recall suggesting that language developed overnight. As far as I am
concerned human development is the result of billions upon billions of
years of evolution..."

I do not write one thing one day and something entirely different a day
or so later.

I really think it is time to stop this thread.

--
Ray
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http://www.carolandray.plus.com
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