Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!uwvax!oddjob!nucsrl!coray
From: coray@nucsrl.UUCP (Not playing with a duck)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: words order in English and Japanese
Message-ID: <3800015@nucsrl.UUCP>
Date: 26 Jan 88 00:39:03 GMT
References: <2617@calmasd.GE.COM>
Organization: Northwestern U, Evanston IL, USA
Lines: 32


 
Reddy writes:

>In making theories of languages, we have to first remember that
>languages EVOLVED. 
...
   [he goes on to suggest that there is an ordering to the evolution
   of different phrase structures.  First verb, then subject and verb, 
   then subject verb and object. ]

--------------------------
Linguistic evolution is hard to measure.  Some interesting things have
been done with the evolution of color terms.  Berlin and Kay used to
be the source, but that's probably pretty dated.

You have fairly sophisticated phrase structures from pretty sophisticated 
modern languages when you look at "subject" "verb" "object".  Can't imagine
that these grammarical segments arrive separately and sequentially.  Things
tend to evolve contemporaniously by virtue of differentiation as you move
a level down on the tree.  At the root of the tree you might imagine that 
there are command words and question words and statement words.  (The
builder yells to his assistant "Slab".--yes, I know, I stole that from
Wittgenstein--I have no original ideas...)

Maybe linguistically ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. For instance, 
a friend of mine (who is about 2), says "chicken".  This means "Put 
on Warren Zevon's `Werewolf in London' again".  Now, most people might 
not recognize that as such, but it shows a certain economy of language 
at the root of the development tree.

-Elizabeth