[tied] Re: Le Monde articles

From: squilluncus
Message: 39673
Date: 2005-08-19

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, glen gordon <glengordon01@...>
wrote:
>
> I think that a switch from sign to speech is really
> simply more of an evolution towards greater symbolism
> or abstractification. I'm not even sure what advantage
> abstractification gives us, but we can see that
> while sign language directly paints visual pictures
> in thin air, vocal communication (aside from
> onomatopeia) is largely very removed from the
> qualities
> of the object being discussed.
>
> When we say "bull", there is really nothing about the
> sounds /b/, /U/ or /l/ which paint the picture of
> a 'bull' in our brains. Rather, 'bull' has become a
> highly abstract symbol of the object in question, one
> not inherently obvious to those outside the circle.
> Yet, if you sign with your two index fingers bent
> outward against the two sides of your head, suddenly
> the symbolic human brain can see the speaker
> anthropomorphized into the bull being discussed.
>
> The issue here is about increasingly complex
> symbolism.
>
> More food for thought. Bon apetit.

Je te souhaite le même!
Fascinating really. Perhaps a bit off-topic for this forum.
Do you know of any forum apt for this topic?
In today's Le Monde, by the way, there is an article about the dog
Rico and the parrot Alex being able to identify a great number of
these abstract sound symbols:
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3244,36-680991@51-
680504,0.html

Lars