From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jul 15 2003 - 13:31:28 BST
All:
Those interested in how language and the manipulation of symbols emerged
in prehistory might like to read the article in today's NY Times in the
science section entitled, "Early Voices:The Leap to Language" by Nicholas
Wade. (Available on the NY Times web site.)
Relevant to the symbols questions is Wade's description of the work of
Dr. Derek Bickerton, a linguist at the University of Hawaii. Wade writes:
"Foragers would have had to report back to others what they had found.
Once they had developed symbols that could be used free of context -- a
general word for elephant, no a vervet-style call of 'An elephant is
attacking!' --early people would have taken the first step toward proto-
language. 'Once you got it going, there is no way of stopping it,' Dr.
Bickerton said."
That's just one snippet from a fascinating article that has relevance to
the definition and birth of the intellectual level.
Platt
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