--- Gregory Geboski <ggeboski at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Briefly:
>
> > -- No. Language is a fundamental component of
> humans, much of its function
> pre-determined, largely universal throughout the
> human population, very
> possibly forming the basis of all that we consider
> "consciousness." It's
> much more than "symbol manipulation."
>
Okay, I grant you that my one sentence summary is a gross oversimplification. But that said, my question goes to the heart of how language affects our consciousness.
As far as it being a fundamental component of humans, my understanding is all humans have a capacity to learn language during the first few years of life, but if one doesn't learn it during this window, one never will.
Which brings me back to my original question. Language, not capacity for language, is a learned skill that shapes our consciousness. Is this process intertwined with learning math? You seem to be saying we don't know enough about the brain to address this question, which is, in a way, an answer. Thanks.
> --No. The old Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Right up there
> with the ether theory
> in physics, just more hardy.
>
I'm not familiar with this hypothesis, but I will be soon!
> Should you have any arguments with this, you should
> come up to Cambridge,
> MA, and see Prof. N. Chomsky, MIT, who will then
> proceed to entertain any
> argument you may have, disassemble it, and shove it
> up your arse -
> rhetorically, of course. Granted, others (Lakoff, I
> think, most prominently
> among current linguists) may support your premises,
> but I think Chomsky
> holds the intellectual cards.
Nothing sounds more fun than drinking beer with Noam Chomsky and having him shove my arguments up my ass - as long as it is rhetorically ;-)
(That little bit of Texan literary braggadoccio referred to my unwillingness to concede a racial basis for intelligence - which I don't _think_ you are arguing. Maybe we'll come back to that after I research this Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis)
Adam
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