MIT: No easy answers in evolution of human language

Massachusetts Institute of Technology ^ | David Chandler, MIT News Office

[decimon]

Voices in my head ping!

[csvset]

“It’s so chaotic, it’s like weather forecasting,”

Say what? The Global Warming Climate Change monkeys have forecasting down to a pseudoscience.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

That was based on research showing that the gene seems to be connected to language ability because some mutations to that gene produce specific impairments to language use ...

I see where they're coming from. It's like the clamp that holds the hose from my gas tank to the engine. When that clamp is missing, my car doesn't run. So the conclusion is obvious.

[saganite]

Why are we hearin’ from ole Mit? I thought he was out of the race.

[decimon]

It's like the clamp that holds the hose from my gas tank to the engine. When that clamp is missing, my car doesn't run.

The car won't run but it will do a Copenhagen two-step.

[decimon]

Why are we hearin’ from ole Mit? I thought he was out of the race.

He's lent his voice to McCain.

[alexander_busek]

The Holy Bible (specifically: Genesis, Ch. 11, Verse 7) states quite clearly how languages came into being.

End of discussion.

[ml/nj]

The real problem with bringing genes and "evolution" into studies about the origins of language is that macro "evolution" almost certainly isn't true. So trying to fit the development of language into it isn't going to help further the study of the development of language. It can only harm it.

ML/NJ

[ketsu]

The Holy Bible (specifically: Genesis, Ch. 11, Verse 7) states quite clearly how languages came into being.

End of discussion.

:rolleyes:

[cripplecreek]

Language is interesting stuff. As i’m picking up bits and pieces of my girlfriend’s native language (Serbo-Croatian) I’m finding similarities in some very common words.

[decimon]

End of discussion.

Okay.

[AntiKev]

Maybe you should write the people at MIT and tell them how it is.

(For those that don’t know the above was smothered in sarcasm.)

[decimon]

As i’m picking up bits and pieces of my girlfriend’s native language (Serbo-Croatian) I’m finding similarities in some very common words.

Yeah, they call us the same things in every language. Don't worry about it. ;-)

[ml/nj]

Actually Genesis only gives an indication as to how different languages arose, but not as to how the first language came about.

ML/NJ

[cripplecreek]

Funny how we don’t all speak Aramaic. Must be the work of the devil.

[cripplecreek]

Yeah, they call us the same things in every language.

I told her that that was one of the reasons I wanted to learn. I wanna know when I'm being insulted.

[toomuchcoffee]

“The Holy Bible (specifically: Genesis, Ch. 11, Verse 7) states quite clearly how languages came into being.
End of discussion.

:rolleyes:

Mega dittos to you.

[squarebarb]

English and Serbo-Croatian are both Indo-European languages so there is some basic similarity in root words.

Ask her the word for ‘cloth’ and you should get something that sounds like ‘linen’.

Also for ‘beech tree’ or ‘birch tree’, and ‘bear’as in carry, numbers one to ten, etc.

Hey, you two have fun!

[cripplecreek]

It came up when she asked if I needed to pick up some groceries and I told her that I had “none, zero, zilch, nada,” and she added “nula” which is too similar to “null” to be coincidence.

However nula takes the place of several different no, none, and zero words depending on tone of voice and context which are clearer if someone can read cyrillic.