"is the same as"

[Stanley Friesen]

At 06:16 PM 2/4/00 +0100, Stefan Georg wrote:
>>>Wrong.  Language is not a biological phenomenon, but a cognitive one.

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

>Language is a social phenomenon, which humans have been able to develop and
>are able to use and process for purposes intimately connected with social
>interaction, because they are furnished with certain cognitive abilities;
>which they are, because their physis meets certain biological
>prerequisites. The biological substratum furnishes the ability to develop,
>use and change the tool, it doesn't determine its shape.

I think you misunderstand my point.  I am not saying language is
biologically *determined*, I am saying it operates under the rules of
biological systems.  Sociality itself evolved to because it provides
certain biological advantages, and social interactions among humans are
very much motivated by basic biological drives.

In this context I was really only pointing out that language "suffers" from
one of the main issues I see in all biological studies: fuzzy, imprecise
boundaries.  There is no precise way to distinguish one language from another.

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