Object of Study
Ok one more......sorry.
In the intro pg 2 it reads "it has not been established that the function of lanugage....is entirely natural...it is not clear that our vocal apparatus is made for speaking as our legs for walking".
How do they know that legs were meant for walking? How do they know that our vocal apparatus wasn't made for its use today? What would it be used for, if not to make sounds? Were we all suppose to be mute?
posted by Nichy @ 10:17 p.m.
1 Comments:
Good questions.
I think what FdS would say is that many other animals use their legs for walking, so we can assume that "walking" is a "natural" activity. Whereas we are the only animal that uses our vocal apparatus for language (though animal communication experts might disagree). I think he is arguing that speaking may be "artificial" in the same way that reading is - that is to say, seeing is natural, but reading is learned culturally- vocalizing is natural, but speaking a language is learned culturally.
Good old nature-versus-nurture.
Post a Comment
<< Home