Walking through the Tai forest of Ivory Coast, Klaus Zuberbühler could hear the calls of the Diana monkeys, but the babble held no meaning for him. That was in 1990. Today, after nearly 20 years of studying animal communication, he can translate the forest’s sounds. This call means a Diana monkey has seen a leopard. That one means it has sighted another predator, the crowned eagle. “In our experience time and again, it’s a humbling experience to realize there is so much more information being passed in ways which hadn’t been noticed before,” said Dr. Zuberbühler, a psychologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Do apes and monkeys have a secret language that has not yet been decrypted? And if so, will it resolve the mystery of how the human faculty for language evolved? Biologists have approached the issue in two ways, by trying to teach human language to chimpanzees and other species, and by listening to animals in the wild. Read the rest of the article here.
Friday, July 2, 2010
In Monkey Babble, Seeking Key to Human Language Development
Thursday, August 28, 2008
indo-european/proto-indo-european
I just stumbled upon this image and thought I'd post it here in response to some of the discussion about the origins of language, whether there is on original language, etc. I don't know how accurate this actually is...it is interesting nonetheless.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Go Back to Black
By K. A. DILDAY
London
I’M black again. I was black in Mississippi in the 1970s but sometime in the 1980s I became African-American, with a brief pause at Afro-American. Someone, I think it was Jesse Jackson, in the days when he had that kind of clout, managed to convince America that I preferred being African-American. I don’t.
Now I live in Britain where I’m black again. Blacks in Britain come from all over, although many are from the former colonies. According to the last census, about half of the British people who identify as black say they are black Caribbean, about 40 percent consider themselves black African, and the rest just feel plain old black. Black Brits are further divided by ancestral country of origin, yet they are united under the term black British — often expanded to include British Asians from the Indian subcontinent.
The term African-American was contrived to give black Americans a sense of having a historical link to Africa, since one of slavery’s many unhappy legacies is that most black Americans don’t know particulars about their origins. Black Americans whose ancestors arrived after slavery and who can pinpoint their country of origin are excluded from the definition — which is why, early in his campaign, people said Barack Obama wasn’t really African-American. Yet, since he has one parent from the African continent and one from the American continent, he is explicitly African-American.
(More...)
Saturday, March 1, 2008
The Antithetical Meaning of Primal Words
The title of this blog post is actually the title of an essay written by Sigmund Freud. The following text is an excerpt from a reading response that I wrote in a philosophy class that I'm taking right now at UVU called "Freud and Philosophy" (taught by Shannon Mussett). This writing is in response to a reading that we were doing from a section in Freud's book "Totem and Taboo". The section had a few parts that reminded me of Freud's essay "The Antithetical Meaning of Primal Words". It is a very interesting essay that I recommend checking out, it's a bit difficult to find though. I thought this would be appropriate on this blog.
"...Taboo is something that interests me very much. The concept of taboo is mind boggling in that it alludes to something or someone that is unapproachable, forbidden, holy, unclean, sacred, dangerous, etc. This antithetical description or definition of the word ‘taboo’ made me think of one of Freud’s essays that I recently read called “The Antithetical Meaning of Primal Words,” wherein Freud examines ancient Egyptian words that have two different meanings which are opposed to one another. That is, single words that refer to two different states that are at odds with each other. For example, the Egyptian word for ‘light’ is the same as the Egyptian word for ‘dark’, the same goes for inside/outside, strong/weak, old/young, far/near, and so on. The single word refers to both states, or at least the presence of one state and the absence of its contrary state. Instead of having two words for each manifestation, one word describes the contradictory phenomena. If the concept is abstract, the specific manifestations can be shown in several ways; if written, a simple symbol or picture at the beginning or end of the word can distinguish between the two meanings, if spoken, special emphasis can be placed on the pronunciation of the word in a number of ways, illustrating the nature of the manifestation being referred to. (For example, the word standing for both ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ would be pronounced very powerfully and deeply if referring to ‘strong’, but would be pronounced very softly and delicately if referring to ‘weak’.) This is also true in many other languages. In Latin, for instance, the word ‘sacer’ means both ‘sacred’ and ‘accursed’, and ‘altus’ means both ‘high’ and ‘deep’. (This is all paraphrased from Freud’s essay “The Antithetical Meaning of Primal Words”) So, I would think that the word taboo, also having an antithetical meaning and essence to it, must have been developed in a similar way, where one word was placed upon the presence of two antithetical states, desires or impulses. Freud also points out early on in the reading that the word ‘taboo’ is an ancient/primal polynesian word.
Taboo is especially interesting being a phenomena that comes upon objects or people for social/cultural reasons and that the phenomena is charged with contradictory forces. Objects of taboo, as said above, are both holy and unclean, both sacred and forbidden, etc. If something is taboo it means that the thing or person of taboo has some kind of prohibition placed upon it, it is warned against, unapproachable. It is both desired and unwanted, it could bring both delight and sorrow.
This brings to mind Frued’s conception of fetish. I wonder how Freud would tie taboo into his understanding of fetishes. It seems like objects that we fetishize are at the same time objects of taboo. To fetishize something is to consider the it to be worthy of worshiping or desiring to no end, but the very fact that we define it as ‘fetish’ implies that it is some kind of unhealthy, or (to use Freud’s language) ‘deviant’ obsession or need. (Maybe even an addiction?!)..."
The end...to spice up this post here is a photo. Yes, that is a Sigmund Freud action figure.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Was There an Ancient Language of Universal Symbols?
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Worn Out Metaphors
What practical application can we derive from Nietzsche's essay On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense? How do we move back to the body and away from removed abstractions? Karl Marx, echoes a similar sentiment when speaking to the young Hegelians. He mocked them, saying:
“The premises from which we begin are not arbitrary ones, not dogmas, but real premises from which abstraction can only be made in the imagination. They are the real individuals, their activity and the material conditions under which they live, both those which they find already existing and those produced by their activity. These premises can thus be verified in a purely empirical way” (Marx).
Marx's materialism similarly attempts to move away from the abstractions and towards empirical evidence of what people "actually do"---their actual material product. Of course, this is not a perfectly parallel example, but I bring it up simply to illustrate the implicit battle that has been waged, and continues to be waged, between abstractions and a more earthy, tangible reality, localized in the body.
Nietzsche illustrates the process, in which, we inevitably move away from the body. Scott illustrated this beautifully in class today, and he would also do more justice to Nietzsche essay (and maybe he can in the comments), but nonetheless, I thought I would take a stab at it, mostly to spark up a conversation to explore ways that we can apply his ideas. Nietzsche states:
"What, then, is truth? A mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms---in short, a sum of human relations, which have been enhanced, transposed, and embellished poetically and rhetorically, and which after long use seem firm, canonical, and obligatory to a people: truths are illusions about which one has forgotten that this is what they are; metaphors which are worn out and without sensuous power; coins which have lost their pictures and now matter only as metal, no longer as coins" (Nietzsche 46-47).
The above quote could be summarized by a diagram, presented in class today:
Language pushes us further and further away from the body, and the reality of the object. A few additional quotes, from Nietzsche, may help accentuate this point:
"The awakened say: Body I am entirely[...]"
"There is more reason in your body than in your best wisdom"
"I love only what a man has written with his blood [...]"
"I would believe only in a God who can dance"
This may also help us understand, as Travis pointed out to me earlier today, why Alex labels himself a "recovering Platonist," and why Nietzsche is the antidote for attempted recovery :) Where as Plato works from forms and down to particulars, Nietzsche sides with Aristotle and works from particulars to universals. In this sense, the particulars are deeply entwined into the body, the universals considered evidence of the disconnect caused by metaphors and symbols. But once again, how do we get back to the body? Can we ever escape abstractions and a society that rests largely on a foundation of metaphors and symbolic speech?
Honestly, I don't have any clear answers. That is, in part, why I wrote this little piece. However, here are a couple practical methods that I can foresee combating the removed shift away from the body:
1. Process, Process, Process. The more we get involved in the physical process of creating, the more language and creativity become localized to the body.
2. Try to escape the use of purposeless metaphors and move closer to the actual thing. Remember, for Nietzsche, the only truth in language is a tautology. For example, "the cow is a cow." The closer we can get to the "real state of things" (I know this phrase is problematic, please permit it for this little pseudo-essay) and further away from abstractions, the more we approach the body.
I'd love to get some comments on this post. Tell me what you think!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Waking Life --- Language
The follow is a clip from Waking Life, a very enjoyable film by Richard Linklater. This specific clip is about language. Check it out.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
The History Of Political Symbols i.e. John McCain
When it comes to the red and blue state diagrams that we see each election, this did not start to emerge mainstream until its use in 2000. It really became standard use in the 2004 election. The red states represent states that are mainly Republican and the blue states represent the Democratic Party. (More...)
Article from Transworldnews.com:
We have all seen the symbols of the donkey and the elephant. We are smothered in newspaper ads, cartoons, and newsbreaks including these as well as the now famous red and blue states. If you have been curious as many of our Americas youth is here is the history behind these famous political symbols.
The Democrat donkey, as it’s called, came to be in the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828. Jackson’s opponents began calling him a jackass (a donkey) and this lead to Jackson’s choice to use this stubborn symbol, the donkey or mule. The cartoonist, Thomas Nast used the donkey in a newspaper cartoon that made this symbol famous. Today’s democrats see the symbol of the donkey as being strong and brave. The same cartoonist, Thomas Nast, later created the Republican elephant in 1874. Today’s Republicans see the symbol of the elephant as representing strength and dignity.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
An Interpretation of Plato's Cratylus
In light of our discussion today:
Phronesis (Vol. XLV, No. 4, November 2000) pp. 284-305.
Simon Keller
There was once a BBC radio show on which celebrity guests were challenged to produce
spontaneous etymologies of common English words. A guest on the show is asked to explain the origin of the word ‘gold’. “Ah yes”, she quickly replies, “this word has its origin in the venerable custom of giving gold watches as gifts to retiring employees. When a ceremony was held to honour a retiring worker, the manager of the company would present him or her with a timepiece made of the as-yet-unnamed substance. As the watch was passed over, the manager would whisper in the ear of the former employee, ‘Gee, you’re old’. As time passed, the ritualised phrase was shortened to, ‘Gee, old’, and then, ‘Gold’. Eventually, people began referring to ‘gold watches’, and so ‘gold’ became the name of the material from which the watches were made”.
(Direct link to this full article in .pdf form)
Monday, September 17, 2007
Zohar
I'm sure I'm not the only one that was fascinated by our discussion of the Zohar today (we're not trying to exclude anyone, but there was an offline discussion about Zohar today). I thought I would gather some links to share with everyone. Let's continue our discussion, or rather, begin further discussion in the comments. Here you go:http://www.kabbalah.com/11.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zohar
Extensive Public Domain Translation of Zohar
A Visual Evolution of the Latin/English Alphabet
Click here to see a visual evolution of the Latin/English alphabet, courtesy of www.popamericana.org.
