From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Thu Aug 7 12:36:43 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 08:36:43 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: Look who was talking] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Look who was talking We began talking as early as 2.5m years ago, writes Stephen Oppenheimer. Is that what drove the growth of our brains? Thursday August 7, 2003 The Guardian When did we start talking to each other and how long did it take us to become so good at it? In the absence of palaeo-cassette recorders or a time machine the problem might seem insoluble, but analysis of recent evidence suggests we may have started talking as early as 2.5m years ago. There is a polar divide on the issues of dating and linking thought, language and material culture. One view of language development, held by linguists such as Noam Chomsky and anthropologists such as Richard Klein, is that language, specifically the spoken word, appeared suddenly among modern humans between 35,000 and 50,000 years ago and that the ability to speak words and use syntax was recently genetically hard-wired into our brains in a kind of language organ. This view of language is associated with the old idea that logical thought is dependent on words, a concept originating with Plato and much in vogue in the 19th century: animals do not speak because they do not think. The advances in communication and abstract thought demonstrated by chimps and bonobos such as the famous Kanzi put this theory in doubt. The notion of a great leap forward in the quality of human thinking is further reflected in a common interpretation of the flowering of Upper Palaeolithic art in Europe. European cave paintings in Lascaux and Chauvet in France and carved figurines that have been dated to over 30,000 years ago are seen, according to this perspective, as the first stirrings of symbolic and abstract thought and also of language. The problem with using art as prehistoric evidence for the first human that could speak is that, quite apart from its validity, the further back one looks the more chance the evidence for art itself would have perished. Full text http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/lastword/story/0,13228,1013222,00.html -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 13:57:10 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 09:57:10 -0400 Subject: [language] Akkadian and ProtoTurkic Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- Akkadian and Turkic cognates, for Akkadian words beginning with /a/ version 1a. -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: akkad-turk-short-A.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1369392 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 13:59:10 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 09:59:10 -0400 Subject: [language] Nilo-Saharan Turkic Cognates Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- Nilo-Saharan vs Turkic cognates, version 2. -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Nilo-Saharan.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 286537 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 14:00:02 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:00:02 -0400 Subject: [language] Reduplication Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- Reduplication in Turkic; some notes, version 1 -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Turk_Reduplication.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 428323 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 14:01:35 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:01:35 -0400 Subject: [language] Sumer-Turk Cognates Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- This is from the work of Prof. Tuna. -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Sumerian-Tuna.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 337401 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 14:02:29 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:02:29 -0400 Subject: [language] On Ottoman Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- A short note on Ottoman and Digoric. -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Ottoman.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 124491 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 14:04:43 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:04:43 -0400 Subject: [language] Phonetic-Phonological mathematical spaces Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- published in J. of IQLA circa 1999. some of the appendices seem to be missing. I will eventually find and post the complete paper. -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: linguistic_space.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 154495 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Thu Aug 21 02:59:44 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 22:59:44 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: Creative Search For Naked Truth]] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Nostratic-L] [Fwd: Creative Search For Naked Truth] Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 11:07:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Andy Howey Reply-To: Nostratic-L at yahoogroups.com To: Nostratic-L at yahoogroups.com off-topic "H.M. Hubey" wrote: -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] Creative Search For Naked Truth Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 08:02:06 +0100 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Creative Search For Naked Truth Study Uses Lice DNA to Find When Clothing First Appeared By Rick Weiss Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, August 19, 2003; Page A01 In a creative use of insect genetics to solve an enduring mystery of human evolution, scientists studying the DNA of lice have concluded that early humans may have started wearing clothes just a few tens of thousands of years ago, more recently than many had presumed. The new work -- based on subtle genetic differences between human body lice, which depend on clothing for their survival, and human head lice, which do not -- suggests that early humans may have lived in Europe for tens of thousands of years after leaving Africa before availing themselves of clothes. Among the work's controversial implications: Early humans such as Neanderthals -- who lived from about 150,000 years ago until 30,000 years ago and who are typically depicted as hairless and clad in furs -- may in fact have been quite furry until surprisingly late in their evolution. "If you look at how Neanderthals are routinely depicted in books and museums, people have just thought they must have had clothing to protect against cold weather," said study leader Mark Stoneking of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. "But if you ask, 'What's the evidence?' it's just not compelling that they had clothes. Perhaps they had more body hair than we thought." The transition from hairy to hairless, and the related advance from naked to clothed, were seminal events in human biological and cultural evolution. But scientists know little about the timing of either. Full text http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11847-2003Aug18.html Human Nature Review http://human-nature.com Evolutionary Psychology http://human-nature.com/ep Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Nostratic-L-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . Yahoo! Groups Sponsor To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Nostratic-L-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Thu Aug 21 03:00:27 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 23:00:27 -0400 Subject: [language] : [Fwd: Creative Search For Naked Truth]] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Nostratic-L] Re: [Fwd: Creative Search For Naked Truth] Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 19:07:47 +0000 From: Andy Howey Reply-To: Nostratic-L at yahoogroups.com To: Nostratic-L at yahoogroups.com This is off-topic. --- In Nostratic-L at yahoogroups.com, "H.M. Hubey" wrote: > > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [evol-psych] Creative Search For Naked Truth > Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 08:02:06 +0100 > From: Ian Pitchford > Reply-To: Ian Pitchford > Organization: http://human-nature.com > To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com > > > > Creative Search For Naked Truth > Study Uses Lice DNA to Find When Clothing First Appeared > By Rick Weiss > Washington Post Staff Writer > Tuesday, August 19, 2003; Page A01 > > In a creative use of insect genetics to solve an enduring mystery of human > evolution, scientists studying the DNA of lice have concluded that early humans > may have started wearing clothes just a few tens of thousands of years ago, > more recently than many had presumed. > > The new work -- based on subtle genetic differences between human body lice, > which depend on clothing for their survival, and human head lice, which do > not -- suggests that early humans may have lived in Europe for tens of > thousands of years after leaving Africa before availing themselves of clothes. > > Among the work's controversial implications: Early humans such as > Neanderthals -- who lived from about 150,000 years ago until 30,000 years ago > and who are typically depicted as hairless and clad in furs -- may in fact have > been quite furry until surprisingly late in their evolution. > > "If you look at how Neanderthals are routinely depicted in books and museums, > people have just thought they must have had clothing to protect against cold > weather," said study leader Mark Stoneking of the Max Planck Institute for > Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. "But if you ask, 'What's the > evidence?' it's just not compelling that they had clothes. Perhaps they had > more body hair than we thought." > > The transition from hairy to hairless, and the related advance from naked to > clothed, were seminal events in human biological and cultural evolution. But > scientists know little about the timing of either. > > Full text > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11847-2003Aug18.html > > > > > > Human Nature Review http://human-nature.com > Evolutionary Psychology http://human-nature.com/ep > Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > > > -- > Mark Hubey > hubeyh at m... > http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Click Here! To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Nostratic-L-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Thu Aug 21 14:34:27 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 10:34:27 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: Baby's dancing brain craves words, touch] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Baby's dancing brain craves words, touch By Tamara Koehler Scripps Howard News Service An infant stares at mom's face, not a trace of understanding in the still-focusing eyes. And yet behind that wide-eyed gaze and soft cap of bone, an electrical storm is taking place. BUILDING A BRAIN New brain-imaging technologies in the past decade have shown: It's nature, then nurture. Genes provide each brain's basic building materials. The environment builds it through trillions of brain-cell connections made by sight, sound, smell, touch and movement. Positive experiences enhance brain connections, and negative experiences damage them. Words work wonders. Babies whose mothers and fathers talk to them routinely more often have larger vocabularies and tend to learn to read sooner and better. Movement matters. Children who spend too much time in playpens and not enough on jungle gyms don't develop the motor cortex area of the brain and, as a result, show poor school readiness. Music matters. Piano instruction in particular can enhance the brain's ability to visualize ratios, fractions and proportions, and thus to learn math and logic. Neglect hurts. Depriving an infant of loving talk and touch releases steroids that damage the brain's hippocampus, which controls its stress-response systems, and can lead to serious cognitive, emotional and social problems. Stress hurts. Chronic stress such as poverty, abuse or violence can impair the development of the amygdala, an almond-shaped area deep in the brain that houses emotion and memory. It also can confuse chemicals that moderate impulsive behavior, fear and aggression. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Deep inside the 1-pound infant brain, millions of wispy circuits are zapping and firing, paving electrical roads and bridges that will carry the heavy traffic of learning, questioning and creating throughout life. The first five years of life are a crucial period for learning - a short but spectacular window of time when experiences such as a whisper, a hug and a bedtime lullaby can change the architecture of the developing brain. "We now have concrete images of the way the brain is hooked up early in life, and it is truly a remarkable period like no other in life," said Dr. Harry Chugani, a neuroscientist at the Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. But interacting in these key years is far more than child's play, and the deprivation of talking, responding, smiling and playing in a child's life can forever change the course of that life cognitively, educationally and emotionally, scientists say. Long before the school years, the groundwork for how well a child will succeed and thrive is already being laid. "There is so much at play - genetics, nutrition, peers - nothing is set in stone," said Dr. Pat Kuhl, co-director of the University of Washington's Center for Mind, Brain & Learning. "But what we do know is this is a critical time when you can help a child be ready for school, be at the highest level of development he or she can be." The extraordinary development of the human brain begins a few weeks after conception. Neurons - the brain cells that store and send information - begin multiplying at 50,000 per second, a frenzy that continues throughout gestation. From that point on, environment begins to play its starring role in the way the brain is wired for emotion, behavior and learning. Neurons send signals to other neurons through axons, a thin fiber that relays electrical messages. Once an axon finds its target cell, it develops dendrites, or branches, which receive a wide variety of information from other brain cells. The more dendrites a nerve cell has, the better and quicker it is at learning. At birth, the infant brain has few of these branches. Its neurons look like saplings. Adult neurons resemble trees with hundreds of branches formed through experience and learning. "A well-stimulated child's brain - and an adult's, for that matter - is visibly different under the microscope," said Dr. Lise Eliot, a neuroscientist with the Chicago Medical School. "A well-connected brain is a forest of dendrites," Eliot said. "In severely neglected children, those dendrite branches are not as dense, which means the quality of connections and the ability to learn is affected." Young brains work at warp speed. An infant's brain can form new learning connections at a rate of 3 billion per second. A child's brain uses twice as much glucose, the brain's fuel, as that of a chess master plotting three moves in advance. How fast brain signals travel along these dendrites depends on how well their axons are coated with myelin, a fatty coating similar to plastic insulation around an electrical wire. Myelin sheaths enable brain signals to travel 100 times faster. Babies are born with few myelinated axons. That's one reason infants can't see well and can't do much with their hands other than grasping and batting at objects. As children get older, different areas of the brain become myelinated on a genetically determined timetable. These periods of mylenization are critical periods for learning. For instance, the first axons to be myelinated in the language area of the brain are those that enable language comprehension. Six months later, myelination extends to the language-production area. Children who are malnourished, especially during these critical periods, have less myelination. This can explain learning problems like being a slow reader, Eliot said. Myelination continues well into the teenage years, primarily in the frontal lobe where decision making and rational capacity develop. The wonders of a child's brain are not without limits. Brief and early phases during development open parts of the brain that control vision and language to stimulation, then close forever. Experiments performed on kittens in which one eye is sewn shut reveal that the closed eye remains nonfunctional even after the stitches are removed, for example. Another stark example of this use it or lose it phenomenon is language learning. By 6 months of age, infants develop a map in the auditory cortex of the phonetic sounds in the native language their mother or caretaker speaks. By 12 months, infants lose the ability to discriminate between sounds that are not made in their native language. While subtle phonetic distinctions might be lost in the first year, children have the ability to learn a second, third and fourth language quickly until about age 10. After that, the brain starts discarding the excess language learning connections. After 10, learning a foreign language is still possible but more difficult. This pruning of unused or unneeded neuron connections is necessary for thinking clearly, making fast associations, reacting to threats and solving problems. But the pruning process also can work against the growing child, especially if connections that could have proved useful later in life are killed because of lack of use. Only those connections that are reinforced over and over again will remain. http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news03/081903_news_science.shtml Human Nature Review http://human-nature.com Evolutionary Psychology http://human-nature.com/ep Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Thu Aug 7 12:36:43 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 08:36:43 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: Look who was talking] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Look who was talking We began talking as early as 2.5m years ago, writes Stephen Oppenheimer. Is that what drove the growth of our brains? Thursday August 7, 2003 The Guardian When did we start talking to each other and how long did it take us to become so good at it? In the absence of palaeo-cassette recorders or a time machine the problem might seem insoluble, but analysis of recent evidence suggests we may have started talking as early as 2.5m years ago. There is a polar divide on the issues of dating and linking thought, language and material culture. One view of language development, held by linguists such as Noam Chomsky and anthropologists such as Richard Klein, is that language, specifically the spoken word, appeared suddenly among modern humans between 35,000 and 50,000 years ago and that the ability to speak words and use syntax was recently genetically hard-wired into our brains in a kind of language organ. This view of language is associated with the old idea that logical thought is dependent on words, a concept originating with Plato and much in vogue in the 19th century: animals do not speak because they do not think. The advances in communication and abstract thought demonstrated by chimps and bonobos such as the famous Kanzi put this theory in doubt. The notion of a great leap forward in the quality of human thinking is further reflected in a common interpretation of the flowering of Upper Palaeolithic art in Europe. European cave paintings in Lascaux and Chauvet in France and carved figurines that have been dated to over 30,000 years ago are seen, according to this perspective, as the first stirrings of symbolic and abstract thought and also of language. The problem with using art as prehistoric evidence for the first human that could speak is that, quite apart from its validity, the further back one looks the more chance the evidence for art itself would have perished. Full text http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/lastword/story/0,13228,1013222,00.html -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 13:57:10 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 09:57:10 -0400 Subject: [language] Akkadian and ProtoTurkic Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- Akkadian and Turkic cognates, for Akkadian words beginning with /a/ version 1a. -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: akkad-turk-short-A.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1369392 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 13:59:10 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 09:59:10 -0400 Subject: [language] Nilo-Saharan Turkic Cognates Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- Nilo-Saharan vs Turkic cognates, version 2. -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Nilo-Saharan.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 286537 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 14:00:02 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:00:02 -0400 Subject: [language] Reduplication Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- Reduplication in Turkic; some notes, version 1 -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Turk_Reduplication.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 428323 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 14:01:35 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:01:35 -0400 Subject: [language] Sumer-Turk Cognates Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- This is from the work of Prof. Tuna. -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Sumerian-Tuna.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 337401 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 14:02:29 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:02:29 -0400 Subject: [language] On Ottoman Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- A short note on Ottoman and Digoric. -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Ottoman.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 124491 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Aug 11 14:04:43 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:04:43 -0400 Subject: [language] Phonetic-Phonological mathematical spaces Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. -------------- next part -------------- published in J. of IQLA circa 1999. some of the appendices seem to be missing. I will eventually find and post the complete paper. -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: linguistic_space.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 154495 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Thu Aug 21 02:59:44 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 22:59:44 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: Creative Search For Naked Truth]] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Nostratic-L] [Fwd: Creative Search For Naked Truth] Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 11:07:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Andy Howey Reply-To: Nostratic-L at yahoogroups.com To: Nostratic-L at yahoogroups.com off-topic "H.M. Hubey" wrote: -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] Creative Search For Naked Truth Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 08:02:06 +0100 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Creative Search For Naked Truth Study Uses Lice DNA to Find When Clothing First Appeared By Rick Weiss Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, August 19, 2003; Page A01 In a creative use of insect genetics to solve an enduring mystery of human evolution, scientists studying the DNA of lice have concluded that early humans may have started wearing clothes just a few tens of thousands of years ago, more recently than many had presumed. The new work -- based on subtle genetic differences between human body lice, which depend on clothing for their survival, and human head lice, which do not -- suggests that early humans may have lived in Europe for tens of thousands of years after leaving Africa before availing themselves of clothes. Among the work's controversial implications: Early humans such as Neanderthals -- who lived from about 150,000 years ago until 30,000 years ago and who are typically depicted as hairless and clad in furs -- may in fact have been quite furry until surprisingly late in their evolution. "If you look at how Neanderthals are routinely depicted in books and museums, people have just thought they must have had clothing to protect against cold weather," said study leader Mark Stoneking of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. "But if you ask, 'What's the evidence?' it's just not compelling that they had clothes. Perhaps they had more body hair than we thought." The transition from hairy to hairless, and the related advance from naked to clothed, were seminal events in human biological and cultural evolution. But scientists know little about the timing of either. Full text http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11847-2003Aug18.html Human Nature Review http://human-nature.com Evolutionary Psychology http://human-nature.com/ep Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Nostratic-L-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . Yahoo! Groups Sponsor To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Nostratic-L-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Thu Aug 21 03:00:27 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 23:00:27 -0400 Subject: [language] : [Fwd: Creative Search For Naked Truth]] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Nostratic-L] Re: [Fwd: Creative Search For Naked Truth] Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 19:07:47 +0000 From: Andy Howey Reply-To: Nostratic-L at yahoogroups.com To: Nostratic-L at yahoogroups.com This is off-topic. --- In Nostratic-L at yahoogroups.com, "H.M. Hubey" wrote: > > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [evol-psych] Creative Search For Naked Truth > Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 08:02:06 +0100 > From: Ian Pitchford > Reply-To: Ian Pitchford > Organization: http://human-nature.com > To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com > > > > Creative Search For Naked Truth > Study Uses Lice DNA to Find When Clothing First Appeared > By Rick Weiss > Washington Post Staff Writer > Tuesday, August 19, 2003; Page A01 > > In a creative use of insect genetics to solve an enduring mystery of human > evolution, scientists studying the DNA of lice have concluded that early humans > may have started wearing clothes just a few tens of thousands of years ago, > more recently than many had presumed. > > The new work -- based on subtle genetic differences between human body lice, > which depend on clothing for their survival, and human head lice, which do > not -- suggests that early humans may have lived in Europe for tens of > thousands of years after leaving Africa before availing themselves of clothes. > > Among the work's controversial implications: Early humans such as > Neanderthals -- who lived from about 150,000 years ago until 30,000 years ago > and who are typically depicted as hairless and clad in furs -- may in fact have > been quite furry until surprisingly late in their evolution. > > "If you look at how Neanderthals are routinely depicted in books and museums, > people have just thought they must have had clothing to protect against cold > weather," said study leader Mark Stoneking of the Max Planck Institute for > Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. "But if you ask, 'What's the > evidence?' it's just not compelling that they had clothes. Perhaps they had > more body hair than we thought." > > The transition from hairy to hairless, and the related advance from naked to > clothed, were seminal events in human biological and cultural evolution. But > scientists know little about the timing of either. > > Full text > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11847-2003Aug18.html > > > > > > Human Nature Review http://human-nature.com > Evolutionary Psychology http://human-nature.com/ep > Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > > > -- > Mark Hubey > hubeyh at m... > http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Click Here! To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Nostratic-L-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Thu Aug 21 14:34:27 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 10:34:27 -0400 Subject: [language] [Fwd: Baby's dancing brain craves words, touch] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Baby's dancing brain craves words, touch By Tamara Koehler Scripps Howard News Service An infant stares at mom's face, not a trace of understanding in the still-focusing eyes. And yet behind that wide-eyed gaze and soft cap of bone, an electrical storm is taking place. BUILDING A BRAIN New brain-imaging technologies in the past decade have shown: It's nature, then nurture. Genes provide each brain's basic building materials. The environment builds it through trillions of brain-cell connections made by sight, sound, smell, touch and movement. Positive experiences enhance brain connections, and negative experiences damage them. Words work wonders. Babies whose mothers and fathers talk to them routinely more often have larger vocabularies and tend to learn to read sooner and better. Movement matters. Children who spend too much time in playpens and not enough on jungle gyms don't develop the motor cortex area of the brain and, as a result, show poor school readiness. Music matters. Piano instruction in particular can enhance the brain's ability to visualize ratios, fractions and proportions, and thus to learn math and logic. Neglect hurts. Depriving an infant of loving talk and touch releases steroids that damage the brain's hippocampus, which controls its stress-response systems, and can lead to serious cognitive, emotional and social problems. Stress hurts. Chronic stress such as poverty, abuse or violence can impair the development of the amygdala, an almond-shaped area deep in the brain that houses emotion and memory. It also can confuse chemicals that moderate impulsive behavior, fear and aggression. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Deep inside the 1-pound infant brain, millions of wispy circuits are zapping and firing, paving electrical roads and bridges that will carry the heavy traffic of learning, questioning and creating throughout life. The first five years of life are a crucial period for learning - a short but spectacular window of time when experiences such as a whisper, a hug and a bedtime lullaby can change the architecture of the developing brain. "We now have concrete images of the way the brain is hooked up early in life, and it is truly a remarkable period like no other in life," said Dr. Harry Chugani, a neuroscientist at the Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. But interacting in these key years is far more than child's play, and the deprivation of talking, responding, smiling and playing in a child's life can forever change the course of that life cognitively, educationally and emotionally, scientists say. Long before the school years, the groundwork for how well a child will succeed and thrive is already being laid. "There is so much at play - genetics, nutrition, peers - nothing is set in stone," said Dr. Pat Kuhl, co-director of the University of Washington's Center for Mind, Brain & Learning. "But what we do know is this is a critical time when you can help a child be ready for school, be at the highest level of development he or she can be." The extraordinary development of the human brain begins a few weeks after conception. Neurons - the brain cells that store and send information - begin multiplying at 50,000 per second, a frenzy that continues throughout gestation. From that point on, environment begins to play its starring role in the way the brain is wired for emotion, behavior and learning. Neurons send signals to other neurons through axons, a thin fiber that relays electrical messages. Once an axon finds its target cell, it develops dendrites, or branches, which receive a wide variety of information from other brain cells. The more dendrites a nerve cell has, the better and quicker it is at learning. At birth, the infant brain has few of these branches. Its neurons look like saplings. Adult neurons resemble trees with hundreds of branches formed through experience and learning. "A well-stimulated child's brain - and an adult's, for that matter - is visibly different under the microscope," said Dr. Lise Eliot, a neuroscientist with the Chicago Medical School. "A well-connected brain is a forest of dendrites," Eliot said. "In severely neglected children, those dendrite branches are not as dense, which means the quality of connections and the ability to learn is affected." Young brains work at warp speed. An infant's brain can form new learning connections at a rate of 3 billion per second. A child's brain uses twice as much glucose, the brain's fuel, as that of a chess master plotting three moves in advance. How fast brain signals travel along these dendrites depends on how well their axons are coated with myelin, a fatty coating similar to plastic insulation around an electrical wire. Myelin sheaths enable brain signals to travel 100 times faster. Babies are born with few myelinated axons. That's one reason infants can't see well and can't do much with their hands other than grasping and batting at objects. As children get older, different areas of the brain become myelinated on a genetically determined timetable. These periods of mylenization are critical periods for learning. For instance, the first axons to be myelinated in the language area of the brain are those that enable language comprehension. Six months later, myelination extends to the language-production area. Children who are malnourished, especially during these critical periods, have less myelination. This can explain learning problems like being a slow reader, Eliot said. Myelination continues well into the teenage years, primarily in the frontal lobe where decision making and rational capacity develop. The wonders of a child's brain are not without limits. Brief and early phases during development open parts of the brain that control vision and language to stimulation, then close forever. Experiments performed on kittens in which one eye is sewn shut reveal that the closed eye remains nonfunctional even after the stitches are removed, for example. Another stark example of this use it or lose it phenomenon is language learning. By 6 months of age, infants develop a map in the auditory cortex of the phonetic sounds in the native language their mother or caretaker speaks. By 12 months, infants lose the ability to discriminate between sounds that are not made in their native language. While subtle phonetic distinctions might be lost in the first year, children have the ability to learn a second, third and fourth language quickly until about age 10. After that, the brain starts discarding the excess language learning connections. After 10, learning a foreign language is still possible but more difficult. This pruning of unused or unneeded neuron connections is necessary for thinking clearly, making fast associations, reacting to threats and solving problems. But the pruning process also can work against the growing child, especially if connections that could have proved useful later in life are killed because of lack of use. Only those connections that are reinforced over and over again will remain. http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news03/081903_news_science.shtml Human Nature Review http://human-nature.com Evolutionary Psychology http://human-nature.com/ep Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service . -- Mark Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: