From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!ogicse!psgrain!hippo!shrike.und.ac.za!casper.cs.uct.ac.za!nhorne Wed Oct 14 14:58:37 EDT 1992
Article 7210 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: nhorne@casper.cs.uct.ac.za (N E Horne)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Mamatology
Message-ID: <Bvyvq4.Bvv@casper.cs.uct.ac.za>
Date: 11 Oct 92 17:10:52 GMT
Article-I.D.: casper.Bvyvq4.Bvv
References: <1992Sep28.164828.2122@meteor.wisc.edu> <1992Sep30.205233.662@hilbert.cyprs.rain.com> <1992Oct5.174528.20148@usl.edu> <1aqirgINN5u9@smaug.West.Sun.COM> <c99-aa.718545726@danube.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: Computer Science Department, University of Cape Town
Lines: 21

In <c99-aa.718545726@danube.Berkeley.EDU> c99-aa@danube.Berkeley.EDU (c99 account) writes:

>dab@ism.isc.com (Dave Butterfield) 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?  Besides there is any number of acounts
>   of infants' first words being something else (papa or other). There is 
>   lot's of jokes in the families about that, I am sure.
>   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...)

I agree. Anyway, there's no more reason to assume that the infant intends to    refer to anything when it says "mama", then there is to believe that it wants tocommunicate any vital bit of info when it emits any one of a variety of high 
pithched whines in what we call gibberish. A more plausible explanation is that
it stumbles upon the sound by chance (which, as you point out, is quite easy) 
utters it, and upon noticing the attention in which it's bathed, repeats the
act propitiously.

Neil Horne


