Re: History of French

From: Peter T. Daniels (grammatim_at_worldnet.att.net)
Date: 09/16/04 

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 21:57:01 GMT

Mxsmanic wrote:
>
> Peter T. Daniels writes:
>
> > The Cornell psycholinguistics pioneer Eric Lenneberg referred to the
> > "critical age" phenomenon.
>
> It doesn't matter who refers to it. There is no proof that it exists.
> It is conjecture.

There is no counterevidence.

> > _Something_ happens in the maturation process, such that the
> > onset of puberty includes the offset of the automatic
> > language-learning ability.
>
> Nothing happens. It is conjecture. You cannot prove this assertion.

There is no counterevidence.

> > I never met Lenneberg, either; and he committed suicide not long
> > after I graduated from Cornell.
>
> The long-term study of linguistics causes depression and suicide. I
> have no proof of that, of course, but a pioneer referred to it, so it
> must be true.

You anoint yourself a pioneer? 

-- 
Peter T. Daniels                       grammatim@att.net
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