[Ads-l] "The root of all languages"

Joel Berson berson at ATT.NET
Wed Feb 24 15:43:55 UTC 2016


My apologies for the previous blank message.

Knowing nothing about the various linguistic arguments, I doubted the San/Bushmen assertion merely because the Kalahari is far from the Olduvai Gorge.

Joel

      From: Geoffrey Steven Nathan <geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
 Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 9:41 AM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "The root of all languages"
   
There's no evidence of bandanas or jai alai cestas in Cro Magnon excavations. So there's that...

Geoffrey S. Nathan
WSU Information Privacy Officer
Professor, Linguistics Program
http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/
+1 (313) 577-1259

Nobody at Wayne State will EVER ask you for your password. Never send it to anyone in an email, no matter how authentic the email looks.

________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 9:36 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "The root of all languages"

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:      American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:      Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Subject:      Re: "The root of all languages"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> On Feb 24, 2016, at 9:29 AM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM> =
wrote:
>=20
> A few years ago, I reviewed and introductory phonetics text for speech
> students that claimed that Basque was spoken by Cro-Magnon 45,000 =
years
> ago.

Hard claim to disprove. =20

>  Thankfully I have forgotten the author's name.
>=20
> Herb
>=20
>=20
>=20
> On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 6:17 AM, Salikoko S. Mufwene =
<s-mufwene at uchicago.edu
>> wrote:
>=20
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:      American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:      "Salikoko S. Mufwene" <s-mufwene at UCHICAGO.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: "The root of all languages"
>>=20
>> =
--------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-----
>>=20
>> Here we go again... back to primitive people, primitive cultures... =
and
>> of course they must speak the primordial, primitive languages! The
>> clicks, so complex as sounds, must have been the primordial =
consonants,
>> right? Damn! I once wrote an essay in which I argue that Africa is =
not
>> more likely to tell us what the primordial language was like, if =
there
>> was just one, than any other part of the world. Here's the link to =
it,
>> for those more interested in the complexity of the phylogenetic =
scenario:
>>=20
>> =
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__mufwene.uchicago.edu=
_publications_WHAT-5FAFRICAN-5FLINGUISTICS-5FCAN-5FCONTRIBUTE-5FTO-5FEVOLU=
TIONARY-5FLINGUISTICS-5F-2D-5FACAL-5F43.pdf&d=3DAwIBaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MU=
cV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DC24A40-AFwYkfb=
BKKY8Cd3vgDXwsmi_BoLymthRVyMU&s=3Dn3m8Xo7MkXFWQrr2yCDlXam1_cwPAzh70b0u_EI6=
KH0&e=3D=20
>>=20
>> Sali.
>>=20
>> On 2/24/2016 7:42 AM, Amy West wrote:
>>> On 2/24/16 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
>>>=20
>>>    From: Laurence Horn<laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>> To:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU  Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 4:37 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "The root of all languages"
>>>=20
>>>> On Feb 23, 2016, at 3:42 PM, Joel Berson<berson at att.net>  wrote:
>>>>=20
>>>> Today's puzzling Boston Globe again --
>>>>=20
>>>>=20
>>>> "Long ago, I spent some years in what now is Namibia, mostly in the
>>>> Kalahari Desert. At the time, the Kalahari was virtually unexplored
>>>> except by the people known as San, Bushmen, or Ju/wa hunter
>>>> gatherers, now believed to have been the people from whom all of us
>>>> descend. Their language is thought to be the root of all languages
>>>=20
>>> Ah, it all clicks for me now.
>>>=20
>>> LH
>>>=20
>>>> Date:    Wed, 24 Feb 2016 00:49:51 +0000
>>>> From:    Joel Berson<berson at ATT.NET>
>>>> Subject: Re: "The root of all languages"
>>>>=20
>>>> Groan.
>>>>=20
>>>> Joel
>>> The worst thing, Joel, is that he does this live and in person as
>>> well. I think the ADS annual meeting should carry a warning label
>>> because of this. ;-)
>>>=20
>>> ---Amy West
>>>=20
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - =
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.americandialect.=
org&d=3DAwIBaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsS=
xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DC24A40-AFwYkfbBKKY8Cd3vgDXwsmi_BoLymthRVyMU&s=3D3XLWGt=
mTNbkjPx_2cqHrkbM_3CdQ1NM0YvoOd5_KmGs&e=3D=20
>>=20
>> --
>> **********************************************************
>> Salikoko S. Mufwene                    s-mufwene at uchicago.edu
>> The Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics =
and
>> the College
>> Professor, Committee on Evolutionary Biology
>> Professor, Committee on the Conceptual & Historical Studies of =
Science
>> University of Chicago                  773-702-8531; FAX 773-834-0924
>> Department of Linguistics
>> 1115 East 58th Street
>> Chicago, IL 60637, USA
>> =
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__mufwene.uchicago.edu=
_&d=3DAwIBaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxP=
IWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DC24A40-AFwYkfbBKKY8Cd3vgDXwsmi_BoLymthRVyMU&s=3Dqp0GMJXV=
gInCsc0G-E7CGiLUTeKVJw9AcSRsR5lTMh0&e=3D=20
>> **********************************************************
>>=20
>>=20
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - =
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.americandialect.=
org&d=3DAwIBaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsS=
xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DC24A40-AFwYkfbBKKY8Cd3vgDXwsmi_BoLymthRVyMU&s=3D3XLWGt=
mTNbkjPx_2cqHrkbM_3CdQ1NM0YvoOd5_KmGs&e=3D=20
>>=20
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - =
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.americandialect.=
org&d=3DAwIBaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsS=
xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DC24A40-AFwYkfbBKKY8Cd3vgDXwsmi_BoLymthRVyMU&s=3D3XLWGt=
mTNbkjPx_2cqHrkbM_3CdQ1NM0YvoOd5_KmGs&e=3D=20

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
  



More information about the Ads-l mailing list