Re: Silent language?

On Aug 19, 11:52 pm, Athel Cornish-Bowden <athel...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On 2008-08-19 09:36:22 +0200, "benli...@xxxxxxxxxx" <benli...@xxxxxxxxxx> said:

On Aug 19, 7:33 pm, Athel Cornish-Bowden <acorn...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
The other day I read in an airline magazine of the existence a tribe in
New Guinea (where else?) who communicate entirely in sign language,
even though there is nothing physiologically wrong with their ears or
vocal cords. Now I realize that airline magazines are not more reliable
as sources of linguistic or other scientific information than the BBC,
but I did wonder: does this story have any basis in reality whatsoever?

--
athel

Please advise what airline this was, so I know to avoid them.

British Airways -- their High Life magazine for July 2008.

--
athel

Thank you. Now in answer to your question -- I'm pretty sure this is
not true. The discovery of such a group would be rather sensational
news in the linguistic world, and I doubt that an airline magazine
would be the one to break the story. Still, assuming this was not just
made up from nothing (and in my experience airline magazines don't run
fiction), one has to wonder what actual fact was engarbled into this
strange tale. It's too bad you can't remember any names.

Ross Clark
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Silent language?
    ... even though there is nothing physiologically wrong with their ears or ... vocal cords. ... Now I realize that airline magazines are not more reliable ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Silent language?
    ... even though there is nothing physiologically wrong with their ears or ... vocal cords. ... Now I realize that airline magazines are not more reliable ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Silent language?
    ... New Guinea who communicate entirely in sign language, ... even though there is nothing physiologically wrong with their ears or ... vocal cords. ... Now I realize that airline magazines are not more reliable ...
    (sci.lang)