The Origins of Speech

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-94 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Homo Habilis ◽  
Early Hominids ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
The Brain

Spoken language is one of the defining human characteristics — the crucial accomplishment which makes us human and separates us from other species. Naturally enough, the origins of this accomplishment — which must lie somewhere back in the Palaeolithic — have been the subject of lively and often heated debate, not least since speech leaves no direct material residues. Many people have sought to resolve the question by careful analysis of the material remains of early hominids. But do patterns of tool-making or evidence of sophisticated subsistence strategies really provide an adequate base from which to deduce the presence of linguistic ability? Furthermore, is language inextricably bound up with the ability to vocalize and to speak? Are studies of the vocal tract of Neanderthals or Homo erectus really relevant to the question of language origins?The wide diversity of view on the antiquity of human spoken language is very clear from the brief contributions which make up this feature. On the one hand is the evidence for the presence of Broca's and Wernicke's areas in the brain of Homo habilis around 2 million years ago. Does this provide grounds for believing that Homo habilis could speak? Did the use of tools as icons by Homo erectus play a key role in the development of human spoken language? Or should we instead go along with the growing consensus — supported by many linguists —that spoken language is a late addition to the range of human abilities, originating along with fully modern humans only within the last 200,000 years? And dare we go even further, and nominate Africa as the locus of language origin?The time may come when we are able to specify not only when human spoken language first developed, but also where. For the present, however, the debate shows no sign of imminent resolution. In the pages which follow, we bring together the views of archaeologists from a number of different backgrounds; but we begin with a linguist's perspective, and seven propositions to set the scene for the archaeological enquiry.

“Channeling” the powers of God’s Word

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothea E. Schulz
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Border Zone ◽  
Focus Attention ◽  
Spiritual Power ◽  
New Materials ◽  
God's Word ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

Starting with the controversial esoteric employment of audio recordings by followers of the charismatic Muslim preacher Sharif Haidara in Mali, the article explores the dynamics emerging at the interface of different technologies and techniques employed by those engaging the realm of the Divine. I focus attention on the “border zone” between, on the one hand, techniques for appropriating scriptures based on long-standing religious conventions, and, on the other, audio recording technologies, whose adoption not yet established authoritative and standardized forms of practice, thereby generating insecurities and becoming the subject of heated debate. I argue that “recyclage” aptly describes the dynamics of this “border zone” because it captures the ways conventional techniques of accessing the Divine are reassessed and reemployed, by integrating new materials and rituals. Historically, appropriations of the Qur’an for esoteric purposes have been widespread in Muslim West Africa. These esoteric appropriations are at the basis of the considerable continuities, overlaps and crossovers, between scripture-related esoteric practices on one side, and the treatment by Sharif Haidara’s followers of audio taped sermons as vessels of his spiritual power, on the other.

scholarly journals Je dood vervelen of je te pletter amuseren?

1970 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 103-136
Author(s):  
Emmeline Gyselinck ◽  
Timothy Colleman
Keyword(s):  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Resultative Construction ◽  
Zoom In ◽  
The One ◽  
Shed Light

This paper focuses on the intensifying use of the fake reflexive resultative construction,as demonstrated in the example Hij lacht zich een breuk om die mop (tit. 'He laughs himselfa fracture because of that joke'). Although the literal use of the (English) fake reflexiveresultative construction has been the subject of several studies, scant attention hasbeen paid to the potential of this construction for conveying an intensifying meaning,though these intensifying uses show an intriguing mix of productivity and lexical idiosyncrasythat deserves careful analysis. This case study will zoom in on the use of theintensifying fake reflexive resultative construction in present-day Belgian and NetherlandicDutch. The analysis will reveal some discrepancies between two national variants ofDutch and shed light on the development of subschemas displaying various degrees ofproductivity on the one hand and the possible lexicalisation of strong combinations on theother.

scholarly journals Incurably Religious? Consensus Gentium and the Cultural Universality of Religion

Numen ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob De Roover
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
The Other ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Species ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Western Scholarship ◽  
The One

Abstract For centuries, the question whether there were peoples without religion was the subject of heated debate among European thinkers. At the turn of the twentieth century, this concern vanished from the radar of Western scholarship: all known peoples and societies, it was concluded, had some form of religion. This essay examines the relevant debates from the sixteenth to the twentieth century: Why was this issue so important? How did European thinkers determine whether or not some people had religion? What allowed them to close this debate? It will be shown that European descriptions of the “religions” of non-Western cultures counted as evidence for or against theoretical claims made within a particular framework, namely that of generic Christian theology. The issue of the universality of religion was settled not by scientific research but by making ad hoc modifications to this theological framework whenever it faced empirical anomalies. This is important today, because the debate concerning the cultural universality of religion has been reopened. On the one hand, evolutionary-biological explanations of religion claim that religion must be a cultural universal, since its origin lies in the evolution of the human species; on the other hand, authors suggest that religion is not a cultural universal, because many of the “religions” of humanity are fictitious entities created within an underlying theological framework.

scholarly journals CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PATHOLOGY OF EXPERIMENTAL VIRUS ENCEPHALITIS

1928 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Flexner
Keyword(s):  
Herpes Virus ◽  
The Other ◽  
Degree Of Protection ◽  
Recurrent Herpes ◽  
Pathogenic Action ◽  
Complete Failure ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Herpès Virus ◽  
The One ◽  
The Brain

In this paper, three strains of the herpes virus have been dealt with. The H.F. II strain was obtained from the subject H.F. 4 years after the H.F. I strain was secured. H.F. is a victim of recurrent herpes. If the subject is also a chronic carrier of the herpes virus, then it is not one, but two or more strains which are persistently carried. The H.F. II strain is of mitigated pathogenic action for the rabbit, as compared with the H.F. I strain; it is to be classed as dermatotropic rather than neurotropic. And yet, in the subject there was no indication that the attack of herpes provoked was different from the other attacks associated with the H.F. I virus. The other two herpes strains derive their interest from the fact that they came also from persons who suffer from repeated attacks of labial herpes. One strain proved highly neurotropic, resembling in this respect the H.F. I strain; the other was hardly neurotropic at all, but was none the less definitely dermatotropic. It may be possible at a later date to secure other samples of virus from these individuals for comparison. The dermatotropic F. strain penetrates to the central nervous system far more readily and certainly from the skin than from corneal surfaces. The recovered inoculated rabbits showed only relative protection to reinoculation of the herpes virus. A notable difference appeared in the degree of protection acquired, on the one hand by the cornea and on the other by the brain. While the one was partial, the other was complete. The complete resistance of the brain was shown (a) by the complete failure of the intracerebral inoculation, and (b) by the absence of circling movements following corneal inoculation.

Abstraction Through the Lens of Neuroscience

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-18
Author(s):  
Valentin A. Bazhanov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Brain Networks ◽  
The Other ◽  
Activity Type ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Concrete Concepts ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Different Levels

The interpretation of the abstraction process and the use of various abstractions are consistent with the trends associated with the naturalistic turn in modern cognitive and neural studies. Logic of dealing with abstractions presupposes not only acts of digress from the insignificant details of the object, but also the replenishment of the image due to idealization, endowing the object with properties that are absent from it. Thus, abstraction expresses not only the activity of the subject but the fact of “locking” this activity on a certain kind of ontology as well. The latter, in the spirit of I. Kant’s apriorism, is a function of epistemological attitudes and the nature of the subject's activity. Therefore, in the context of modern neuroscience, we can mean the transcendentalism of activity type. An effective tool for comprehension of abstractions making and development is a metaphor, which, on the one hand, allows submerge the object of analysis into a more or less familiar context, and on the other hand, it may produce new abstractions. Naturalistic tendencies manifested in the fact that empirically established abstractions activate certain neural brain networks, and abstract and concrete concepts are "processed" by various parts of the brain. If we keep in mind the presence of different levels abstractions then not only neural networks but even individual neurons (called “conceptual”) can be excited. The excitation of neural networks is associated with understanding the meaning of some concepts, but at the same time, the activity of these networks presupposes the "dissection" of reality due to a certain angle, determined in the general case by goals, attitudes and concrete practices of the subject.

scholarly journals The Concept of “Dog” in Proverbs and Phraseological Units of the Russian and Persian Languages

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 62-69
Author(s):  
Abdolmaleki Kosar Salimi ◽  
◽  
Ashtiani Majdabadi Kohneh Narges ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
Cognitive Characteristics ◽  
Persian Language ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Object Of Study

This study examines some ways to actualize the concept of “dog” in Russian and Persian language pictures of the world, including the aspects of lexical, cultural, metaphorical and religious relevance of zoomorphism “dog” in Russian and Iranian linguistic cultures. The goal of investigation is to compare the features of the concept of “dog” in Russian and Persian language pictures of the world. Research objectives: 1) to summarize data on the representation and interpretation of the word “dog” in the explanatory dictionaries of the languages studied; 2) to analyze the images of the dog in Russian and Persian proverbs and phraseological units. The relevance of the work consists in referring to this zoomorphic concept from the standpoint of comparing and defining the principles of updating the cognitive characteristics of the concept of “dog” in proverbs and phraseologisms in Russian and Persian, examining the general and specific characteristics of this concept, as well as the views of Russian and Iranian people in relation to this animal in two linguistic cultures. Chosen proverbs and phraseological units of the Russian and Persian languages with the “dog” component are the subject of the study. The object of study is the concept of “dog” in Russian and Persian. The language material for the study was compiled from explanatory dictionaries and collections of paroemias. Each proverb and phraseological unit is subjected to careful analysis, their classification is carried out. The scientific novelty of the study is a comparative study of the concept of “dog” in two linguistic cultures: Russian and Persian. Such studies have not yet been conducted in modern linguistic literature. As a result of the analysis, both a positive and negative attitude towards dogs was noted in both linguistic cultures. On the one hand, a person endows the dog with the positive qualities of fidelity and devotion, on the other hand, with aggressiveness and low value. In two cultures ‒ Russian and Iranian ‒ there are different superstitions, beliefs and prejudices associated with this animal. The obtained research results are of applied value. They can find application in linguodidactics, in particular, when teaching Russian as a foreign language at Iranian universities, as well as in lexicology and linguocultural courses. Keywords: concept, proverb, phraseologism, linguistic culture, comparative studies, linguistic picture of the world

Crime and Insanity

1896 ◽  
Vol 42 (178) ◽  
pp. 602-604
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Common Basis ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
The Brain

The Report of the Departmental Committee on Prisons, the chief recommendations of which—so far as they affect the subject of insanity in prisons— we reproduce under the heading “Notes and News,” contains much of interest to alienists, by whom it will be welcomed as evidence of reform and progress. The Report opens up a prospect of cooperation between asylum and prison workers, which cannot but make for a better understanding of the sources and relationships of crime and insanity, and promote our efforts to lessen the sum of unhappiness caused by the heedless propagation of these great degenerations. Too long, indeed, have the alienist and the criminologist worked apart, and a distinction, we venture to assert, quite unnatural has been drawn between their spheres of labour. We should be curious to learn how many instances could be adduced of cooperation between asylum and gaol medical officers, in those localities in which the asylum and the prison are contiguous; to what extent the medical officers of the one institution have taken advantage of the opportunities which offered to familiarise themselves with the cases to be found in the other. There may possibly be justice in the reproach that both our prison colleagues and ourselves have been remiss in not bringing before the notice of the proper authorities, with adequate persistence and force, the need for taking a common basis of study, and for associated labour. The desirability of keeping distinct institutions for dealing with insanity and crime might even be questioned by some. Wholly separate institutions for the study of the different abnormal and degenerative states of any given bodily organ, other than the brain, would assuredly be considered as unnecessary.

A Propaedeutic to Dialogue: "On The Oneness Of The Hermeneutical Horizon(s)" & "On The Importance Of Getting Things Straight"

PhaenEx ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 230
Author(s):  
Saulius Geniusas ◽  
Gary Brent Madison
Keyword(s):  
Final Analysis ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Philosophical Hermeneutics ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
The One ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer

S. Geniusas: Although Gadamer’s hermeneutics has suffered attacks from a number of philosophical perspectives, the profusion of criticisms seldom constitutes new challenges and for the most part is a reiteration of two seemingly opposite claims. On the one hand, we often hear that Gadamer’s hermeneutics is merely a disguised brand of the “philosophy of the subject” which under the pretext of openness reduces the Other to the self. On the other hand, it is just as often claimed that Gadamer’s writings fall into the category of the “hermeneutics of the fundamental questions” and therefore they cannot account for the selfhood of the self. Taking as its focus the theme of the oneness of the hermeneutical horizon(s), this paper argues that this theme carries no hegemonic or essentialist connotations. Rather, a careful analysis, which accentuates the negative and the dialectical elements of the oneness of horizons and the fact that this theme is for Gadamer both a presupposition and an achievement, reveals the shortcomings of both critiques. In the final analysis, the oneness of the horizon(s) is the dialogue that we ourselves are. Special attention is granted to Richard Kearney’s critique of Gadamer, to Gadamer’s critique of the incommensurabilist stance, and to the relevance of Gadamer’s hermeneutics in the context of today’s socio-political concerns. G. B. Madison: This essay is a companion piece to S. Geniusas’ “On the Oneness of the Hermeneutical Horizon(s)” and seeks to correct some of the serious misunderstandings of the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer that one often encounters in the literature. It seeks above all to show how Gadamer’s commitment to philosophical universalism is ideally suited to enabling philosophy to confront the ethical challenges posed by the phenomenon of globalization.

scholarly journals IX . Researches on the intimate structure of the brain.—Second series

1868 ◽  
Vol 158 ◽  
pp. 263-331 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Medulla Oblongata ◽  
Morphological Changes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Close Study ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
The Brain

Before I begin to describe the parts which form the subject of this communication, and to show how some of them are merely modified portions or developments of others that belong to the medulla oblongata , it will be advisable to recur to those morphological changes in the medulla, which I formerly pointed out as themselves arising from modifications of the spinal cord . And while in unravelling structures so extremely complex, such a course seems almost necessary to facilitate their comprehension, and convey to the reader a just notion of their morphological changes, in relation on the one hand, to the remaining parts of the encephalon, and on the other hand, to the spinal cord, it will afford me an opportunity of adding to this recapitulation some new facts that have been elicited by subsequent observation and a more extended experience. It is gratifying to know that many of the results of my previous researches have been found to throw considerable light on certain diseases of the nervous system, especially on some forms of paralysis; and my own pathological investigations, as well as a close study of nervous disorders, have not only enabled me to shape my present researches as much as possible in accordance with the requirements of the pathologist, but, by pointing to the probability of certain anatomical connexions suggested by morbid symptoms, they have sometimes been the means of directing the course of my dissections in a very peculiar way.

The Occasional Conformity Controversy: Ideology and Party Politics, 1697-1711

1977 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Flaningam
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ideological Debate ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
Distinct Existence ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

The occasional conformity controversy has been the subject of considerable study by historians, both contemporary and modern. However, recent research has tended to concentrate on the parliamentary and electoral aspects of the issue, with somewhat less attention given to its importance as an ideological question. Nevertheless, the latter aspect of the controversy is well worth examining, for aside from its impact upon the struggle for office and power, occasional conformity was also the subject of heated debate on the theoretical and philosophical level. And although this debate often degenerated into partisan diatribes and rhetoric, it also raised questions that transcended the political ploy on the one hand, and the theologian's quibble and the propagandist's stalking horse on the other. The arguments used by both sides during the controversy revealed the basic philosophical differences that lay at the heart of the rivalry between the Whig and Tory parties. Occasional conformity's role as an expression of, and its relation to, this struggle is the subject of this article.The ideological debate over occasional conformity was necessarily stimulated by the parliamentary struggles during the first decade of the eighteenth century over the various bills which were designed to discourage the practice, and many of the tracts on the subject were written in response to these and other political maneuvers. But the pamphlet war had its own distinct existence, and the writers involved fought with their pens a battle that was parallel to the one that the politicians were fighting with votes and influence.

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