Babel's Dawn

How Fascinating (yawn)!

I omitted an important fact from yesterday's post. I began a series of reports on Michael Tomasello's new book, The Origins of Human Communications, which is officially published today (Sept. 30). I managed to mention that the book does an excellent job of identifying the cognitive and emotional qualities that enable people to speak, but I wanted to save one detail for this second post about the book. For all its importance, Tomasello has given us an astoundingly boring book. It was a discipline for me to get through it.

Speakers, Listeners, and their Common Ground

Michael Tomasello is one of the heroes of this blog because of his extensive work establishing the importance of joint attention in human communications and its complete absence from primate interactions. (See for example: Speech Prerequisites)  So of course I am delighted that this coming Tuesday (September 30th) he is publishing a new book, The Origins of Human Communication.

Tomasello begins with one of the central tenets of this blog—chimpanzees are smart enough to use at least protolanguage—and asks why apes still do not talk. The answer he favors is also favored on this blog: the great apes are social but not cooperative. 

What I've Learned About Human Origins

We have learned a few things about the human lineage since 1946, but much remains obscure.

Last Thursday, September 18, marked Babel’s Dawn’s second anniversary. I’m taking note of the date by posting a couple of pieces about what I have learned from the experience of maintaining this blog. Last week I described what I have learned about language (here). This week I’m reporting what I have learned about human origins.

What I've Learned About Language

"Let us Prey" was the caption of a famous political cartoon. Puns like that are a feature of rhetoric that enables people to hear things not in the words.

This coming Thursday, September 18, marks Babel’s Dawn’s second anniversary. I thought I would take note of the date by posting a couple of pieces about what I have learned from the experience of maintaining this blog. I’ll start by considering what I have learned about language.

Can this Blog Be Falsified?

Karl Popper is best known as the philosopher who popularized the idea that science is disproved rather than proved. There has to be a way to falsify a claim or the claim is not  sicentific. Are any of the assertions made on this blog falsifiable?

If you want to send this blog back to square one, your task is clear: disprove the proposition that the human lineage is unique in its formation of the speech triangle (speaker, listener, topic). For my part, I have the duty of reporting on efforts to falsify this claim, so of course I was alert when I came across a headline, “Apes Can Follow Conversations the Same Way Humans Can.” Oops.