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From: petrich@netcom.com (Loren Petrich)
Subject: Re: Language Hard-Wired in the Brain? - Brachycephalization
Message-ID: <petrichDxpF2s.GA7@netcom.com>
Keywords: language origin
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <4vv851$evi@server-b.cs.interbusiness.it> <seagoat.545.0017B99D@primenet.com> <petrichDxnIwq.J6I@netcom.com> <seagoat.550.0113E211@primenet.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 03:59:16 GMT
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Sender: petrich@netcom19.netcom.com

In article <seagoat.550.0113E211@primenet.com>,
John A. Halloran <seagoat@primenet.com> wrote:
>In article <petrichDxnIwq.J6I@netcom.com> petrich@netcom.com (Loren Petrich) writes:

>You are depending heavily on the findings of palaeoanthropologists
>regarding evolution of physical structures that can be related to
>speech in order to date the emergence of language. 

	However, the location of the larynx is a human universal, as far 
as anyone knows.

... Well, the
>emergence of language as abstract mental activity can better be
>related to the shape of the brain and skull.  The ability to
>vocalize as indicated by the vocal tract is not necessarily 
>synonymous with using abstract symbolic language.

	However, the human mouth seems overbuilt for doing a lot of 
la-la-la sounds, and there is this interesting problem of the lowered 
larynx -- why did *that* evolve?

>There have been in fact recent, rapid changes to the shape of
>civilized humans' skulls since the onset of the Neolithic.  This
>recent phenomenon is called brachycephalization.  No language
>researchers have connected this development to language evolution
>because according to the current paradigm the development is too
>recent.

	[stuff on narrow head -> broad head change...]

	However, is there *any* difference between the linguistic
competence of broad-headed (brachycephalic) and narrow-headed
(dolichocephalic) people? I've yet to see evidence of that.
-- 
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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