The NY Times contains a news story about research reported in a recent issue of Science: using the methods associated with tracing the historical changes in genetics, a historical linguist has manages to trace the origin of human language to southern Africa (possibly as far back as 100,000 years ago). See: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/science/15language.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2
A couple of points: (1) Many linguists are skeptical about the method of analysis, in part, because linguists don't use this type of analysis (bayesian phylogeny) and are not familiar with it. (2) Interesting quote: |“Language was our secret weapon, and as soon we got language we |became a really dangerous species,” he said. Word. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=10034 or send a blank email to leave-10034-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
