From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!west.West.Sun.COM!smaug.West.Sun.COM!dab Wed Oct 14 14:58:06 EDT 1992
Article 7161 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!west.West.Sun.COM!smaug.West.Sun.COM!dab
>From: dab@ism.isc.com (Dave Butterfield)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Word Mechanics (was: parts of "Brain and Mind")
Date: 8 Oct 1992 15:37:44 GMT
Organization: x
Lines: 34
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References: <1992Oct5.174528.20148@usl.edu> <1aqirgINN5u9@smaug.West.Sun.COM> <c99-aa.718545726@danube.Berkeley.EDU>
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c99-aa@danube.Berkeley.EDU (c99 account) writes:
>>The origin of the word "mama" (and its close relatives in other languages)
>>appears to contradict that statement.  "Ma" is one of the easiest syllables
>>to utter, and is one of the first spoken by infants.  The first entity that
>>an infant wants to refer to is his mother. 
>   Why not that it's wet or hungry?

I don't know.  Maybe the infant's brain finds it easier to assign
a symbol to a distinct concrete object outside itself rather than
a feeling-state such as wetness or hunger, so that happens first?
(This use of a symbol to denote an object is a different skill than
the expression of discomfort (hungry or wet) by crying.)

If you're interested in the origin of the word "mama", look at
the entry for it in the Oxford English Dictionary, which gives
word origin and history.

>   Also, sound "MA" seems to be very close to the sound "A" which perheps the
>   most natural sounding for human (concider "R", "Woo", "F" instead...)

Yes, part of what I said was that "Ma" was one of the easiest
syllables to pronounce.  "Ahh" is the easiest vowel: you just
drop your mouth open.  The other vowels require learning to
shape the mouth.  For consonants, "m" just requires starting
the vocal chords while the mouth is closed, and then just
dropping it open.  Other consonants require an aspiration or
a puff of air as you open your mouth, which is more complex,
or teeth to hiss, or a placement of the tongue on the palate,
or something else more complex than "m".
 
Dave
-- 
          Magic is the art of assuming a role strongly enough
          that the Universe falls into the complementary role.


