Sociological Linguistics

[Nik Taylor]

"Patrick C. Ryan" wrote:

> unless, of
> course, you believe that God bestowed fully developed language on Adam,
> which belief would disqualify you from any rational discussion of the topic.

Why should that disqualify a person from "any rational discussion"?
Admittedly, it would make discussion a moot point, unless it were a
theological discussion on what kind of language God would've created.

> I have asserted that early language, for any
> non-believer, would have had to have gone through a stage that was less
> expressive (more ambiguous) than languages of which we currently have
> documented information.

Certainly, assuming that language evolved, that God didn't create
language all at once, then early language would've been simpler and less
espressive.  Perhaps only a few hundred words, relying heavily on
context to disambiguate, and, I suspect, isolating.  But, this is a moot
point.  We cannot possibly reconstruct that far back.  Even Nostratic,
if it is legitimate, would've been long past that point.

--
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