Re: language origin, language evolution, evolutionary mutation

From: Peter T. Daniels (grammatim_at_worldnet.att.net)
Date: 09/14/04 

Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 20:57:57 GMT

Yair Shimron wrote:
>
> (The followings are summaries of the first part of a Hebrew book (in
> press) by Yair Shimron. It brings a new attitude to the field of the
> language origin.. Ignore English mistakes, read openly, you will find
> it interesting.)
> VOICES FROM THE GARDEN OF EDEN
>
> The evolution of the Expressive voices into Language
>
> English Summaries
>
> Chapter 1: Background Conditions
> 1. Immense efforts are invested in the research of the making of
> language for the past 20 years, yet real advance has been made only in
> understanding the background conditions of human and language
> evolution. Scrutinizing the literature one finds not even one theory
> that is widely accepted at any area of research. There are no answers
> to main questions like the origin of speech sounds, their assembling
> into words, the emergence of syntax, nor is there an explanation of
> the development of any other prehistoric phenomenon of language.
> 2. Though most researchers agree that the making of language is a
> routine scientific area, some important linguists, like Chomsky and
> Jakkandof

I might have bothered reading it if (1) the author hadn't tried to
pretend someone else was recommending his work and (2) he'd managed to
spell the name of a well-known scholar correctly. this has nothing to do
with being a mistake in translating from Hebrew; it's common courtesy.
(Have Ray Jackendoff's many books been published in Hebrew?) 

-- 
Peter T. Daniels                       grammatim@att.net