Re: The Tally-Ho! Theory of Language Origins

In article <434454A9.5943@xxxxxxxxxx>, benlizross <benlizro@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>Peter T. Daniels wrote:

>> benlizross wrote:

>> > rogerprince@xxxxxxxx wrote:

>> > > benlizross wrote:

.................

>> > Actually, my remarks were addressed to Dr Jamshid Ibrahim, who
>> > elaborated on your one line. But I suspected that your "in a sense"
>> > might conceal an escape hatch. So, like Derrida, you say "Writing
>> > precedes speech", which looks startling and original, but turns out to
>> > be based on using the term "writing" in a sense that nobody else uses
>> > it. In your case "writing" = "animal tracks". What's the point?

>> I thought he was saying that the pre-humans would make marks on the
>> ground in imitation of the tracks of their prey, so as to teach their
>> fellows what to look for.

>> That would be vaguely writing-like, but still not a useful extension of
>> the term.

>And would this teaching be done without speech?

I do not believe this preceded some form of speech, which
is also present in other animals. But it can be done by
pointing, and possibly drawing pictures of the prey.

I am not convinced that, even with less flexibility, this
is not done by Arctic predators teaching their cubs how to
follow tracks of prey animals. I would be reluctant to say
that this cannot be taught without language; we have much
animal behavior which is taught.


--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
hrubin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558
.

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