[Linganth] Toothpicking

[Timothy Mason]

Alexander King wrote:

> 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.

Perhaps I've misunderstood their argument ; I gathered that the idea was
that the need to articulate the sounds used in speech demand a more
sensitive tongue and mouth, so that the threshhold for disturbance from
stuff stuck in your teeth is lowered. Picking your teeth doesn't help
you speak, but speaking demands an apparatus which over-reacts to gunge
in the gaps.

Well - maybe. But if you go here :
http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/~reffland/anthropology/anthro2003/origins/primates/pongids.html
and have a good look at the chimp's teeth, you may conclude that there
are other reasons why humans went in for toothpicks.

Best wishes


--
Timothy Mason
Université de Paris 8
http://perso.club-internet.fr/tmason/index.htm