Re: Why grammar is so complex a subject

> Cian Ross wrote:
>> On Thu, 2005-12-29 at 14:57, R A Brown wrote:
>
> [first hominids]
>
>>> But, yes, I
>>> do think their social communication had sophistication.
>>
>> I'm not sure how nearly modern hominids would lack that, if they had so
>> many things so otherwise like Cro Magnon humans.  Neanderthals did
>> burials, supported the unwell...and yet their language was some sort of
>> minimal thing?  That just doesn't fit well for me.
The thing is, Neanderthal technology was stable for several
_hundred thousand_ years.  Then, suddenly, 50,000 or so years ago
humans started an inexplicable period technological innovation
where there were more changes in 10,000 years than in the
previous million.  (And this still doesn't take us out of the
stone age!)  I'm not convinced that fully developed language
caused this sudden change, but it's orders of magnitude better
than any of the other theories I've heard.

--
Jefferson
http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/myths/