To: thomaswest
Evolution of language is well-documented, showing modification over generations, selection based on surroundings, and nobody pretends it was "intelligently designed".You don't believe language changes as a result of mental reflection and effort?
The evidence that language is the result of not merely intelligent agents, but agents with exceptionally large brains, is not only self-apparent, it is overwhelming.
If this weren't true, rocks would speak--and in local dialects.
19 posted on
11/11/2005 5:51:17 AM PST by
JCEccles
To: JCEccles
The evidence that language is the result of not merely intelligent agents, but agents with exceptionally large brains, is not only self-apparent, it is overwhelming. While that's somewhat true (although that fails to explain how Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) speaks) we're not consciously directing the evolution of our language, so it is not correct to say that language is designed. I'm not a linguist, but my understanding nevertheless is that the most popular mechanism for linguistic evolution is quite a bit different from biological evolution.
32 posted on
11/11/2005 7:56:55 AM PST by
Alter Kaker
(Whatever tears one may shed, in the end one always blows one’s nose.-Heine)
To: JCEccles
The evidence that language is the result of not merely intelligent agents, but agents with exceptionally large brains, is not only self-apparent, it is overwhelming.Just kinda playing Devil's Advocate here, but are you saying that the PC Nazi's that have been successfully changing our language have exceptionally larger brains?
43 posted on
11/11/2005 10:47:40 AM PST by
BostonianRightist
(Justice: A Dish Best Served Swiftly)
To: JCEccles
If this weren't true, rocks would speak--and in local dialects. According to the Muzzies, they do! Rocks & Trees: "O Son of Islam, there is a jew hiding behind me, come and kill him."
49 posted on
11/11/2005 12:03:51 PM PST by
Great Caesars Ghost
(For Thee I Offered My Blood, In Sacrifice... Tarry No Longer... (Requiem, Davies, 1915))
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