[Linganth] Toothpicking

[Alexander King]

It is a very curious piece. I'm not an archaeologist, but it does
seem as if the authors are begging the question. They seek to explain
why early hominids may want/need to pick their teeth, and their
argument for its connection to language assumes that the annoyance of
having food stuck in your teeth interferes with speaking. I have
found that discomfort in my teeth interferes with sleeping and
concentrating on any task that takes considerable focus, for example,
skinning an animal, making a tool, walking over rough terrain, making
a fire, etc. The authors simply assume that since teeth and the mouth
are involved with speech production, then anything to do with the
mouth must necessarily implicate the evolution of language. That
logic is flawed.

As far as I understand it, toothpicking merely demonstrates
considerable manual dexterity and some moderately sophisticated
cognition/planning abilities to make a tool. I am not convinced of
the relevance for the evolution of language. I think the authors
obfuscating use of 5-dollar words and discussion of neurology is,
technically speaking, blowing smoke up the reader's ass.

Alex King

At 9:56 -0600 2/12/04, Robert Lawless wrote:
>Could I get reactions from some linguistics on this article:
><http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/CA/journal/issues/v45n3/043601/043601.html>?
>
>Robert Lawless
>Department of Anthropology
>Wichita State University
>Wichita KS 67260-0052
>(316) 978-3195 (department)
>(316) 978-6185 (office)
>(316) 978-3351 (FAX)
>robert.lawless at wichita.edu
>Http://webs.wichita.edu/anthropology


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