Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!helios.ee.lbl.gov!ucsd!ames!amdahl!pyramid!prls!philabs!linus!mbunix!bwk From: bwk@mbunix.mitre.org (Barry W. Kort) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Glossolalia and the Juke Box Model of Speech Acts Summary: Monkey hear, monkey say. Keywords: Et tu, Kimosabe? Message-ID: <46302@linus.UUCP> Date: 13 Mar 89 11:28:46 GMT References: <3312@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> <45523@linus.UUCP> <7767@venera.isi.edu> Sender: news@linus.UUCP Reply-To: bwk@mbunix.mitre.org (Barry Kort) Organization: Protoplasmics, Cleft Chasm, NJ Lines: 15 In article <7767@venera.isi.edu> smoliar@vaxa.isi.edu.UUCP (Stephen Smoliar) writes: > I recently read a paper in which the author proposed that the mind's > ability to listen to music emerged from its ability to process language. > I suggested to the author that the process might actually have gone the > other way around. Our ancestors were probably doing lots of things > with toots and booms before words entered the picture. Your theory is supported by the behavior of songbirds and the humpback whale, who learn elaborate songs through auditory mimicry. Parrotry seems more primitive than language. It seems that before one can invest symbols with meaning, one must have some symbols to sling around. --Barry Kort