Fwd from LINGUIST list: Article: Gestural Theory, New York Times

[Nobukatsu Minoura]

Probably it's not a NEWS for us.  But anyway, the LINGUIST mailing list
distributed a message which informed that New York Times had printed an
article which says that the first human language was gestural.

Nobukatsu Minoura
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
minoura at tufs.ac.jp
nobum at gol.com

P.-S.:  If anybody has difficulty registering to New York Times to read the
article, let me know.  But DO try to register with them first.

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Sat, 18 May 2002 10:16:26 -0400
From:  Stirling Newberry <stnewberry at earthlink.net>
Subject:  Media: New York Times article on the origin of language

Today's New York Times:


http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/18/arts/18GEST.html


"What a hairy back!" was Lily Tomlin's candidate for the first human
sentence. But whatever the content of that original remark, if Michael
C. Corballis is correct, it was expressed in gestures, not words.


Mr. Corballis, a psychologist at the University of Auckland, in New
Zealand, is the latest proponent of a controversial idea known among
language experts as the "gestural theory." In essence, gestural
theorists contend that long before early humans spoke they jabbered
away with their hands."


The article is available with a free registration, which requires
giving an email address.




stirling s newberry

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