Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!rutgers!news.sgi.com!howland.erols.net!netcom.com!petrich
From: petrich@netcom.com (Loren Petrich)
Subject: Re: Invention of Language (Halloran)
Message-ID: <petrichE15GJr.5nI@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <56os9g$brv@scream.auckland.ac.nz> <seagoat.711.00DE2B06@primenet.com> <petrichE143Ar.Dy8@netcom.com> <seagoat.713.00855A12@primenet.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1996 03:33:27 GMT
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Sender: petrich@netcom12.netcom.com

In article <seagoat.713.00855A12@primenet.com>,
John A. Halloran <seagoat@primenet.com> wrote:
>In article <petrichE143Ar.Dy8@netcom.com> petrich@netcom.com (Loren Petrich) writes:

>>        And you have yet to present *any* evidence that narrow-headed
>>(dolichocephalic) people are significantly less skilled at language than
>>broad-headed (brachycephalic) ones. I personally haven't noticed any 
>>clear difference.

	Stephen Jay Gould in _The Mismeasure of Man_ noted that the 
19th-cy. French scientist Broca was *very* interested in this head-shape 
question; however, he concludes that Broca got non-results. It might be 
an interesting experiment to try on the people you know, however :-) My 
personal experience, however, suggests no noticeable difference.

>My post also discussed the irregularities to be observed in extending language 
>comparison past the time of the earliest well-established proto-languages.  
>Both Loren and Miguel are acknowledged enthusiasts for the Nostratic 
>hypothesis which seeks to do this for the Eurasian proto-languages.  Has 
>anyone else noticed that they would rather talk about a poorly researched 
>area of anthropology than about the implications of the historical linguistics 
>in which they are expert?

	What do you mean by that? That you don't like seeing your pet 
hypothesis punctured?
-- 
Loren Petrich				Happiness is a fast Macintosh
petrich@netcom.com			And a fast train
My home page: http://www.webcom.com/petrich/home.html
Mirrored at: ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/pe/petrich/home.html


