language and biology

[Stanley Friesen]

At 12:29 PM 2/7/00 +0000, Larry Trask wrote:
>Stanley Friesen writes:

>>  Cognition is a biological process.  Ergo, so is language.

>Sure.  But the biological aspects of language, important though they
>may be, are not the subject matter of historical linguistics.

>Historical linguistics, by definition, deals with language change.
>And language change does not result from biological change: it results
>from social factors.

The point is that social change is another form of biological process, it
is just not *genetic* change.  Social change operates under the general
constraints and modes of biological processes, even though it does not
directly involve genetic factors.

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima at ix.netcom.com