Newsgroups: sci.lang
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From: petrich@netcom.com (Loren Petrich)
Subject: Re: Language Hard-Wired in the Brain?
Message-ID: <petrichDxoAGA.4or@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <4vv851$evi@server-b.cs.interbusiness.it> <3239B53D.471B@trl.telstra.com.au> <petrichDxnJ5o.JrC@netcom.com> <32395726.17349983@news.demon.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 13:21:46 GMT
Lines: 35
Sender: petrich@netcom14.netcom.com

In article <32395726.17349983@news.demon.co.uk>,
Paul Spinks <pspinks@vegauk.co.uk> wrote:
>On Fri, 13 Sep 1996 03:32:12 GMT, Loren Petrich wrote about
>"Re: Language Hard-Wired in the Brain?":

>> In article <3239B53D.471B@trl.telstra.com.au>,
>> Jacques Guy  <j.guy@trl.telstra.com.au> wrote:
>> [snip] 
>> >Well, if humans were without spoken language until 10,000 BP, that means
>> >that language developed independently in Australia (populated at least
>> >40,000 years ago), in New Guinea (evidence of garden cultivation 9,000BC)
>> >and of course, in America (populated at the very least 18,000 years ago).

>> 	That would certainly have had to be the case, and there is the 
>> question of why *every* human society for which appropriate documentation 
>> exists has had language. [...]

>Just a wild guess, but perhaps they needed to have developed language in
>order to leave "appropriate documentation" behind?  <g>

	People can be reported on by other people, and no human society 
is known to exist that has lacked language.

	I'm not intending this as an absolutist statement; a 
counterexample would be exceedingly interesting.

	What is interesting here is that while technological development 
in general has been very patchy, the development of language has not 
been, with the exception of creating new words for new items, activities, 
features, and ideas.
-- 
Loren Petrich				Happiness is a fast Macintosh
petrich@netcom.com			And a fast train
My home page: http://www.webcom.com/petrich/home.html
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