From: "jeffrey E." <jeevacation@gmail.com>
To: Noam Chomsky
Subject: Re: Re:
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2016 17:10:26 +0000
we agree, that is why i try to stay away from the word infinity in broad usem infinity is really on a math
concept.
On Sun, Jan 3, 2016 at 12:08 PM, Noam Chomsky < > wrote:
Apes can gesture "I'm hungry," but their symbolic systems differ radically from human language in just about every
significant respect.
There are very broad uses of language, but I think they're more confusing than helpful. There is a biological system:
human language. The English word "language" (which, incidentally, doesn't translate easily, even to closely related
languages) covers a lot more than that, just as "move" or "energy" in English cover a lot more than what scientists
mean by the term. Seems to me a good idea to follow scientific practice and avoid the broad uses, except in informal
discourse.
From: Jeffrey E. [mailto:jeevacation@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 03, 201611:55 AM
To: Noam Chomsky < >
Subject: Re:
gesturing im hungry, ? does that need a language first with your broad definition?
On Sun, Jan 3, 2016 at 11:51 AM, Noam Chomsky < > wrote:
Don't see how it would work. We can't tell stories until language is already available.
There are, of course, speculations about how language might have developed very slowly, first with short sentences,
then longer ones, etc. One could interweave speculations about story telling into these. Problem with these tales is
the usual one with speculation — one can imagine 1 million possibilities. Dick Lewontin's important paper on
evolution of cognition is again relevant. And there is a more formidable problem: the leap to unboundedness is
saltational, by definition, so nothing is gained by the speculations, a fact that many of those engaged in these efforts
seem not to have grasped.
From: jeffrey E. imailtojeevacation@gmail.comi
Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2016 11:25 AM
To: Noam Chomsky
Subject:
EFTA00837382
how does story telling fit in to the origin of language. ? internal stories? overlay on music . alarms?
how important are stories ?
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