pin processor etc

[Christer Platzack]

Liz Bates wrote:

"Now: if I pick up a pin, and then pick up a pen, I will necessarily
configure my hand slightly differently for these two tasks.  Does
that mean that I have a "pin processor" that is distinct from
and located separately from my "pen processor"?  Or is this simply
the dynamic (and transient) result of somewhat different task
demands?  In the case of the hand, we assume the latter.  In the
case of brain activation studies, we typically assume the former.
Neither one is justified, in and of itself, by the data we are
discussing right now."

This is an inadequate metaphor! The adjustment of the hand when picking up a pin
or a pen is more like what we do when we accomodate a message to context (the
choice of topic and focus and similar things).
Maybe a better metaphor for different languages would have been to consider
icking up a pen with the hand or with the mouth (or the foot).
>
Christer Platzack
Institutionen for nordiska sprak
Helgonabacken 14
S-223 62 Lund
Sweden