Re: Is there a purpose to our existense

In article <d8eqs1pao91durr1uqbrm69m2kqs79f7fs@xxxxxxx>,
Mark Isaak <eciton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On 17 Jan 2006 10:01:17 -0800, "floyd" <farchy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> >[re human uniqeness]
> >
> >Grammared languages, perhaps. The fact that we don't yet understand
> >non-human primate communication makes me hesitate to say it is _not_
> >grammatical. (Even moreso for the cetaceans.) The evidence from
> >signing chimps and gorillas strongly suggests an absence of grammar,
> >obviously, so I can understand why you'd feel this was a difference in
> >kind, rather than in degree.
>
> Human are the only species with a language with a recursive syntax. I
> think human language is unique in another way, too, but I forgot how.
> There was a review or perspective article in _Science_ on the subject
> two or three years ago.

IIRC it was differentiating subject and object, so that "Sarah hit ball"
and "Ball hit Sarah" are not distinguished. This is something observers
can overlook as much of the time what is intended is obvious from
context. If true, is animal language is very different from human
language.

> >Still, I'm unconvinced that grammatical structure is anything more than
> >a side effect of increasing brain size. If the complexity of chimp
> >communication was "scaled up" three fold, would it have grammar? Our
> >brains are three times as big, so is our system of communication more
> >than three times as complex? How do we measure the relative
> >complexity of two systems of communication? I have to withhold
> >judgement on that one.
>
> I doubt brain size is all there is. An adult chimp has as much brain
> as a four-year-old child, but the child has syntax that the chimp does
> not.
>
> --
> Mark Isaak eciton (at) earthlink (dot) net
> "Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of
> the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are
> being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and
> exposing the country to danger." -- Hermann Goering

--
"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any
charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgement of his
peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totali-
tarian government whether Nazi or Communist." -- W. Churchill, Nov 21, 1943

.

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