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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" align="center">=====================================================<br>
<b>L O W L A N D S - L - 16 August 2010 - Volume 01<br>
</b><a href="mailto:lowlands.list@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span style="" lang="FR">lowlands.list@gmail.com</span></a> - <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/" target="_blank"><span style="" lang="FR">http://lowlands-l.net/</span></a><br>
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=====================================================</p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">From: <span class="gd"><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);"><a href="mailto:heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk">heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk</a></span></span><span class="gi"> </span><span class="go"><<a href="mailto:heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk">heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk</a>></span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">Subject: <span class="gi">LL-L "Evolution" 2010.08.15 (09) [EN]</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">from
Heather Rendall <a href="mailto:heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk" target="_blank">heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk</a></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">re
evolution of language</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I
was struck when the Fox P2 gene was discovered and its importance and relevance
to language described, by the fact that the original use of the gene had been
the fine movement control of the fingers; it then also developed / adapted to
control the fine movements of muscles round the mouth, let alone the sequencing
of words within a language.</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">What
struck me was the possible connnection between the sequencing of using tools
for which fine finger control would be required and the development of language
into sequential thought. Animals have communication and some are even
considered to have the ability to re-sequence common sounds to vary effect or
meaning but they do it within a very limited range of fixed sounds. </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">If
the difference between communication and language is that the latter offers
infinite variety of expression through the algorithms of its grammatical
sequencing and the former has a fixed number of sounds and possible
combinations to effect a limited number of responses ( for example chimpanzees
clearly 'talk' to one another but they don't appear to be able to discuss the
possible close connection between terrorism and freedom fighting or whether one
fruit tastes better when slow roasted over charcoal), then why cannot it be
possible that, as humans evolved, they first learnt to communicate and that
this sufficed for millennia for their needs. As they learnt to make and use
tools, the sequence of thought needed to describe what they were doing and how
to achieve it, may have developed patterns of communication that became ever
more varied, until regular patterns/sequences of thought were established. And
as both the creation of tools and their use became more and more complicated,
this ability to transfer using recognised sounds a complex thought from one
human to another encouraged the development of ever increasing flexibility and
breadth and depth within the algorithms.</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The
other 'point in time' that has fascinated ever since I read Golding's "The
Inheritors" is when did humans start looking beyond reality to an
invisible dimension. When did abstract thought begin? Why did the family and
friends of a neanderthal boy in Turkey
line his <span style=""> </span>grave with blue flowers? How
long had they been thinking or believing in something beyond the merely
practical?</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I
hope this thread though not exactly Lowlandish, is permitted because I for one
find it fascinating.</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Heather</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Worcester UK</p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">----------</p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">From: <span class="gd"><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">Anja Meyfarth</span></span><span class="gi"> </span><span class="go"><<a href="mailto:aurinel@spray.se">aurinel@spray.se</a>></span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">Subject: <span class="gi">LL-L "Evolution" 2010.08.15 (09) [EN]</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">Hello all,<br>
<br>
Sandy wrote:<br>
<br>
One thing I would suggest from observation (even although it's a highly
unsatisfactory thought) is that technology is mainly inspired by war. If the
population rises and people start to get territorial, eventually there's a
pressing need for a three-man chariot, and the handcart comes along later as a
spin-off, maybe supplied by out-of-work chariot-makers.<br>
<br>
Well, I think, geography and fauna are important, too. So wheels were not
invented in South America even if the Inka
civilization was fighting wars. But wheels are not useful in that area although
lamas might be able to pull a chariot. In Northern America
were no animals that could do that job. Horses were brought to the plains by
the whites. What is very interesting is that the Egyptians didn't invent wheels
although they were mighty warriors. They got this inventions from the Hethits.
(That's at least what I learned.)<br>
As for language use: No one knows for sure if the great apes does not use a
(primitive? proto?) language. Chimpanzees go hunting together which is not easy
in a tight forest so they have to communicate. Maybe what makes mankind to
mankind is not language or the use of tools but art and the feeling for
transcendence. But even that might be hard to tell.<br>
<br>
Greetings,<br>
<br>
Anja</p>
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