Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id WAA11469 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 19 Feb 2001 22:37:03 GMT From: <joedees@bellsouth.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 16:40:50 -0600 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: Lesser genes than expected CC: Zylogy@aol.com Message-ID: <3A914C92.3120.40A199@localhost> In-reply-to: <94.104d06dd.27c2c936@aol.com> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 19 Feb 2001, at 14:08, Zylogy@aol.com wrote:
> Ah, but might it be that we ARE born with enhanced ability to learn
> certain classes of structures within language, certain types of
> vocabulary before others, and certain memes similarly? Consider the
> face-recognizer in the cortex. Nobody had to be taught the importance
> of a face. Imprinting in birds? Learning and decision tasks put into
> formats compatible with an animal's normal activities will be better
> executed than those which in alien ones.
>
> Jess Tauber
>
Birds are born with a (very) rough template or capacity for their
birdsong, little more than a squawk. They learn their particular
song from hearing their geographical conspecifics during a critical
period; if they are kept from hearing their local birdsong during this
period, they will NEVER be able to learn it, so obviously hard-wiring
and instinct is involved. However, environment is, too. A virginia
robin will recognize the song of a carolina robin (geographically
contiguous) enough to mate with it, but not so between a virginia
robin and a california robin (geographically disparate). However, if
their eggs are switched between nests, the carolina robin will learn
the california song, and vice-versa.
We are also born with the capacity to learn any language, and do
so easily during our critical period (preadolescence); afterwards, it
is much more difficult for most of us to master additional tongues.
Pidgen communities show that groups of young people will
spontaneously generate their own syntactic/semantic system if
they are not exposed to one.
However, the possible birdsongs of a particular species are few in
number, and delimit a closed system with few purposes beyond
procuring a mate and thus are barren of environmentally responsive
meaning, whereas humans have created thousands of languages,
nad even consciously engineered them (esperanto, e-prime), and
our system is open-ended, and allows for an unlimited number of
possible sign systems to be created.
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