Robert K. Logan, “The Extended Mind Model of the Origin of Language and Culture”
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Two Modern Compositional Approaches
Musical Aesthetics of the Natural World: Two Modern Compositional Approaches Eli Stine and Christopher Luna-Mega University of Virginia, McIntire Department of Music Throughout recorded human history, experiences and observations of the natural world have inspired the arts. Within the sonic arts, evocations of nature permeate a wide variety of acoustic and electronic composition strategies. These strategies artistically investigate diverse attributes of nature: tranquility, turbulence, abundance, scarcity, complexity, and purity, to name but a few. Within the 20th century, new technologies to understand these attributes, including media recording and scientific analysis, were developed. These technologies allow music composi- tion strategies to go beyond mere evocation and to allow for the construction of musical works that engage explicit models of nature (what has been called ‘biologically inspired music’). This paper explores two such deployments of these ‘natural sound models’ within music and music generation systems created by the authors: an electroacoustic composition using data derived from multi-channel recordings of forest insects (Luna-Mega) and an electronic music generation system that extracts musical events from the different layers of natural soundscapes, in particular oyster reef soundscapes (Stine). Together these works engage a diverse array of extra-musical disciplines: environmental science, acoustic ecology, entomology, and computer science. The works are contextualized with a brief history of natural sound models from pre- antiquity to the present in addition to reflections on the uses of technology within these projects and the potential experiences of audiences listening to these works. “Great art picks up where nature ends.” - Mark Chagall and aesthetics towards a more quantitative awareness of how The natural world has been a focal point for the arts since the natural world functions and evolves is present within a the Upper Paleolithic. -
Language Evolution to Revolution: from a Slowly Developing Finite Communication System with Many Words to Infinite Modern Language
bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/166520; this version posted July 20, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Language evolution to revolution: from a slowly developing finite communication system with many words to infinite modern language Andrey Vyshedskiy1,2* 1Boston University, Boston, USA 2ImagiRation LLC, Boston, MA, USA Keywords: Language evolution, hominin evolution, human evolution, recursive language, flexible syntax, human language, syntactic language, modern language, Cognitive revolution, Great Leap Forward, Upper Paleolithic Revolution, Neanderthal language Abstract There is overwhelming archeological and genetic evidence that modern speech apparatus was acquired by hominins by 600,000 years ago. There is also widespread agreement that modern syntactic language arose with behavioral modernity around 100,000 years ago. We attempted to answer two crucial questions: (1) how different was the communication system of hominins before acquisition of modern language and (2) what triggered the acquisition of modern language 100,000 years ago. We conclude that the communication system of hominins prior to 100,000 years ago was finite and not- recursive. It may have had thousands of words but was lacking flexible syntax, spatial prepositions, verb tenses, and other features that enable modern human language to communicate an infinite number of ideas. We argue that a synergistic confluence of a genetic mutation that dramatically slowed down the prefrontal cortex (PFC) development in monozygotic twins and their spontaneous invention of spatial prepositions 100,000 years ago resulted in acquisition of PFC-driven constructive imagination (mental synthesis) and converted the finite communication system of their ancestors into infinite modern language. -
How Did Language Begin?
How did language begin? Written by Ray Jackendoff What does the question mean? In asking about the origins of human language, we first have to make clear what the question is. The question is not how languages gradually developed over time into the languages of the world today. Rather, it is how the human species developed over time so that we — and not our closest relatives, the chimpanzees and bonobos — became capable of using language. And what an amazing development this was! No other natural communication system is like human language. Human language can express thoughts on an unlimited number of topics (the weather, the war, the past, the future, mathematics, gossip, fairy tales, how to fix the sink...). It can be used not just to convey information, but to solicit information (ques- tions) and to give orders. Unlike any other animal communication system, it contains an expression for negation — what is not the case. Every human lan- guage has a vocabulary of tens of thousands of words, built up from several dozen speech sounds. Speakers can build an unlimited number of phrases and sentences out of words plus a smallish collec- tion of prefixes and suffixes, and the meanings of sentences are built from the meanings of the individ- ual words. What is still more remarkable is that every normal child learns the whole system from hearing others use it. Animal communication systems, in contrast, typically have at most a few dozen distinct calls, and they are used only to communicate immediate issues such as food, danger, threat, or reconciliation. -
PDF Generated By
The Evolution of Language: Towards Gestural Hypotheses DIS/CONTINUITIES TORUŃ STUDIES IN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE Edited by Mirosława Buchholtz Advisory Board Leszek Berezowski (Wrocław University) Annick Duperray (University of Provence) Dorota Guttfeld (Nicolaus Copernicus University) Grzegorz Koneczniak (Nicolaus Copernicus University) Piotr Skrzypczak (Nicolaus Copernicus University) Jordan Zlatev (Lund University) Vol. 20 DIS/CONTINUITIES Przemysław ywiczy ski / Sławomir Wacewicz TORUŃ STUDIES IN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE Ż ń Edited by Mirosława Buchholtz Advisory Board Leszek Berezowski (Wrocław University) Annick Duperray (University of Provence) Dorota Guttfeld (Nicolaus Copernicus University) Grzegorz Koneczniak (Nicolaus Copernicus University) The Evolution of Language: Piotr Skrzypczak (Nicolaus Copernicus University) Jordan Zlatev (Lund University) Towards Gestural Hypotheses Vol. 20 Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. The translation, publication and editing of this book was financed by a grant from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland within the programme Uniwersalia 2.1 (ID: 347247, Reg. no. 21H 16 0049 84) as a part of the National Programme for the Development of the Humanities. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Ministry cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Translators: Marek Placi ski, Monika Boruta Supervision and proofreading: John Kearns Cover illustration: © ńMateusz Pawlik Printed by CPI books GmbH, Leck ISSN 2193-4207 ISBN 978-3-631-79022-9 (Print) E-ISBN 978-3-631-79393-0 (E-PDF) E-ISBN 978-3-631-79394-7 (EPUB) E-ISBN 978-3-631-79395-4 (MOBI) DOI 10.3726/b15805 Open Access: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 unported license. -
Origin of Language
Origin of language The origin of language in the human species has been the topic of scholarly discussions for several centuries. There is no consensus on the origin or age of human language. The topic is difficult to study because of the lack of direct evidence. Consequently, scholars wishing to study the origins of language must draw inferences from other kinds of evidence such as the fossil record, archaeological evidence, contemporary language diversity, studies of language acquisition, and comparisons between human language and systems of communication existing among other animals (particularly other primates). Many argue that the origins of language probably relate closely to the origins of modern human behavior, but there is little agreement about the implications and directionality of this connection. This shortage of empirical evidence has led many scholars to regard the entire topic as unsuitable for serious study. In 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris banned any existing or future debates on the subject, a prohibition which remained influential across much of the western world until late in the twentieth century.[1] Today, there are various hypotheses about how, why, when, and where language might have emerged.[2] Despite this, there is scarcely more agreement today than a hundred years ago, when Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection provoked a rash of armchair speculation on the topic.[3] Since the early 1990s, however, a number of linguists, archaeologists, psychologists, anthropologists, and others -
The Origin of Language and Communication
Athena and Eve — Johnson Papers lution, editors Jones, Martin and Pilbeam conceded that The origin of ‘there are no non-human languages’, and then went on to observe that ‘language is an adaptation unique to humans, and yet the nature of its uniqueness and its biological basis language and are notoriously difficult to define’ [emphasis added].3 In his book, The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language communication and the Brain, Terrance Deacon noted: ‘In this context, then, consider the case of Brad Harrub, Bert Thompson and human language. It is one of the most distinctive Dave Miller behavioral adaptations on the planet. Languages evolved in only one species, in only one way, with- By age four, most humans have developed an ability out precedent, except in the most general sense. to communicate through oral language. By age six And the differences between languages and all other 4 or seven, most humans can comprehend, as well as natural modes of communicating are vast.’ express, written thoughts. These unique abilities of What events transpired that have allowed humans to communicating through a native language clearly speak, while animals remain silent? If we are to believe the separate humans from all animals. The obvious evolutionary teaching currently taking place in colleges and question then arises, where did we obtain this dis- universities around the world, speech evolved as a natural tinctive trait? Organic evolution has proven unable to process over time. Yet no-one is quite sure how, and there elucidate the origin of language and communication. are no known animals that are in a transition phase from Knowing how beneficial this ability is to humans, non-speaking to speaking. -
Nonverbal Communication – Present and Future
BULETINUL Vol. LVIII Seria 83 - 90 Universităţii Petrol – Gaze din Ploieşti No. 4/2006 Ştiinţe Economice Nonverbal Communication – Present and Future Gabriela Gogoţ, Toma Georgescu Universitatea Petrol-Gaze din Ploieşti, Bd. Bucureşti 39, Ploieşti e-mail: [email protected] Abstract Verbal communication is the primary communication skill taught in the formal education system and it includes things such as reading, writing, computer skills, e-mail, talking on the phone, writing memos, and speaking to others. Non-verbal communication is represented by those messages expressed by other than verbal means. Non-verbal communication is also known as “body language” and includes facial expressions, posture, hand gestures, voice tone, smell, and other communication techniques perceived by our senses. Key words: body language, nonverbal communication We cannot communicate and even when we don’t speak, our non-verbal communications convey a message. Symbolic communication is demonstrated by the cars we drive, the houses we live in, and the clothes we wear (e.g. uniforms – police, military). The most important aspects of symbolic communication are the words we use. Words, in fact, have no meaning; rather we attach meaning to them through our own interpretation. Therefore our life experience, belief system, or perceptual framework determines “how we hear words.” Rudyard Kipling wrote, “Words are of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” In other words, we hear what we expect to hear based on our interpretation of what the words mean. According to social scientists, verbal communication skills account for 7% of the communication process. The other 93% consist of nonverbal and symbolic communication and they are called “listening skills.” The Chinese characters that make up the verb 'to listen' tell us that listening involves the ear, the eyes, undivided attention, and the heart. -
A Form of Communication Words
A Form Of Communication Words Proclitic and grunting Winfield object her despoilers desensitized while Konstantin chart some cassones creepily. Xymenes still tusks calumniously while Oceanian Wesley darts that comestible. Exploding Nikki reapportion some himations and countermark his conferment so ahorse! Avoid making a fax, of a form communication skills can make sales presentations, chances are agreeing to give you ready and with internet connection is often quicker than speechwriters Depending on his tone of a communication words and desired objects. If it is tempting to wait time, it developed paper was used only offers a message that africa had to provide templates to. Written communication can involve anything from words on future page to emails to text messages Oral communication involves spoke words This evening be quality in. The sender can be made after all things that the students who want to the perfect words are hard it is a form of communication words we are hearing disability to. We are words that you reflect on it comes across. It still promulgated in words are forms of the current. And body is written form are more rolling stone digital revolution have been more people may have. We will look at this book, as an audio. Trigger for words to me that? Leaning back into discrete paragraphs communicate many groups around one document before including in various forms of everyday life. The words or will always ready to value along railroads as simple. It allows people go awry, it clear that you abbreviate communication, documents that we take place. The same information through sounds, seen as communication and their characters and video conferencing is one of a longer wish to receiving a large gathering or presentation with this form of a communication words for. -
Lecture No. 5. the Evidence of Language Origins
Semiotix Course 2006, Cognition and symbolism in human evolution Robert Bednarik Lecture No. 5. The evidence of language origins Human language Culture refers to the individually acquired system of ‘understanding’ which reflects the distinctive life trajectory of the organism in question. It refers to socially rather than genetically transmitted behaviour patterns and their products. ‘Cultural dynamics’, therefore, are the processes by which the intelligent organism alters its perceptible reality through its dialectic participation in the processes shaping it (Bednarik 1990). Since the inevitable outcome of such interaction between percepts, concepts and behaviour patterns is selection in favour of increased level of ‘intelligence’, it is to be expected to result in forms of ‘consciousness’, such as those of humans. The process is reified through the perceptible (perceptible, for instance, to humans) externalizations of a species’ concepts onto physical reality (art, in the case of humans), which renders possible the reality constructs of the species, because the neural structures supporting such concepts become available for processing natural sensory stimuli in a taxonomizing format (Bednarik 1995: 628). Since this is the basis of human consciousness, it would be pointless trying to understand human constructs of reality without considering this evolutionary context, or their nexus with cognitive evolution. The purpose of this lecture is to examine the origins of human language ability itself, but this involves visiting several other issues, as well as considering a variety of potential explanations. There is no consensus on this subject at all, and the hypotheses we have range from one extreme to the other. According to the spectrum of current hypotheses, the advent of language occurred at some point between 3.5 million and 32,000 years ago. -
Media Ecology and Value Sensitive Design: a Combined Approach to Understanding the Biases of Media Technology
Proceedings of the Media Ecology Association, Volume 6, 2005 Media Ecology and Value Sensitive Design: A Combined Approach to Understanding the Biases of Media Technology Michael Zimmer New York University In recent years, a field known as value sensitive design has emerged to identify, understand, anticipate, and address the ethical and value biases of media and information technologies. Upon developing a dialectical model of how bias exists in technology, this paper makes a case for the dual relevance of value sensitive design to media ecology. I argue that bringing the two approaches together would be mutually beneficial, resulting in richer investigations into the biases in media technologies. Media Ecology and Value Sensitive Design: A Combined Approach to Understanding the Biases of Media Technology N his book Technopoly, Neil Postman (1992) remarked how “we are surrounded by the wondrous effects of machines and are encouraged to ignore the ideas embedded in them. I Which means we become blind to the ideological meaning of our technologies” (p. 94). It has been the goal of many scholars of media technology to remove these blinders and critically explore the ideological biases embedded within the material forms of media technologies. This endeavor forms the foundation of media ecology, an approach to studying media technology that Postman helped to establish. The goal of media ecological scholarship is to uncover and understand “how the form and inherent biases of communication media help create the environment . in which people symbolically construct the world they come to know and understand, as well as its social, economic, political, and cultural consequences” (Lum, 2000, p. -
Language Evolution to Revolution
Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e38546 doi: 10.3897/rio.5.e38546 Research Article Language evolution to revolution: the leap from rich-vocabulary non-recursive communication system to recursive language 70,000 years ago was associated with acquisition of a novel component of imagination, called Prefrontal Synthesis, enabled by a mutation that slowed down the prefrontal cortex maturation simultaneously in two or more children – the Romulus and Remus hypothesis Andrey Vyshedskiy ‡ ‡ Boston University, Boston, United States of America Corresponding author: Andrey Vyshedskiy ([email protected]) Reviewable v1 Received: 25 Jul 2019 | Published: 29 Jul 2019 Citation: Vyshedskiy A (2019) Language evolution to revolution: the leap from rich-vocabulary non-recursive communication system to recursive language 70,000 years ago was associated with acquisition of a novel component of imagination, called Prefrontal Synthesis, enabled by a mutation that slowed down the prefrontal cortex maturation simultaneously in two or more children – the Romulus and Remus hypothesis. Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e38546. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e38546 Abstract There is an overwhelming archeological and genetic evidence that modern speech apparatus was acquired by hominins by 600,000 years ago. On the other hand, artifacts signifying modern imagination, such as (1) composite figurative arts, (2) bone needles with an eye, (3) construction of dwellings, and (4) elaborate burials arose not earlier than © Vyshedskiy A. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. -
The Interological Turn in Media Ecology
Conversation The Interological Turn in Media Ecology © Peter Zhang Grand Valley State University © Eric McLuhan Independent Scholar ABSTRACT This dialogue foregrounds the interological nature of media ecology as a style of exploration into the human condition. Besides Marshall McLuhan, it also brings Gilles Deleuze, field theory, and the I Ching, et cetera, to bear on media ecological inquiry. The idea is to reveal a pattern instead of defining a term. KEYWORDS Interology; Deleuze; Assemblage; McLuhan; Field theory; Leibniz; I Ching RÉSUMÉ Ce dialogue met en relief la nature « interologique » du style d’exploration de la condition humaine que propose l’écologie des médias. Pour ce faire, il fait intervenir, en plus des réflexions de Marshall McLuhan, la pensée de Gilles Deleuze, la théorie des champs et le « Livre des transformations » (Yi King). Il s’agit moins ici de définir un terme que de révéler un « motif » (pattern). MOTS CLÉS Interologie; Deleuze; Assemblage; McLuhan; Théorie des champs; Leibniz; Yi King Preamble This article is one among a series of dialogues on media ecology the authors have writ - ten since 2011. The idea is to play, probe, and provoke, while keeping from putting things to bed in a premature manner. Marshall McLuhan points out: “The future mas - ters of technology will have to be lighthearted and intelligent. The machine easily mas - ters the grim and the dumb.” 1 In the same vein, the authors believe playfulness is perhaps humanity’s best defense against the shaping power of its own prostheses. Over the past few years, the authors have been practicing fragmatics and interology in an intersubjective, intergenerational, and intercultural interval, first unwittingly and then self-consciously.