Re: Crossing the language threshold was Re: First Language
Ralph T. Edwards (rte@elmo.lz.att.com)
Wed, 30 Aug 1995 14:42:36 GMT
In article <aldersonDE3DL4.IHH@netcom.com>, alderson@netcom.com wrote:
> In article <rte-2908951314450001@mac-118.lz.att.com> rte@elmo.lz.att.com
> (Ralph T. Edwards) writes:
> >Of course acquisition of language may not be one event, but many, perhaps
> >nouns first, then adjectives, then verbs, then grammatical relationships.
>
> Since nouns, verbs, and adjectives are not necessarily distinct in all
> languages, such an acquisition pattern is unlikely.
The fact that "run" can be used as a noun or a verb does not necessarily
imply that the word is stored only one place, or that there are not distinct
brain adaptations to support the different classes of words. Or did you
have something else in mind?
>
> >Of course even if language acquisition is the speciation event for modern
> >humans, it may have occurred in more than one place, and then merged.
>
> Why "merged"?
Because if the groups did not merge, then there would have been only one origin
of language (that survivied), and I was considering the possibility that
there were multiple origins.
--
R.T.Edwards rte@elmo.att.com 908 576-3031
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