Friday, May 24, 2024

Many peoples thoughts and minds dwell in the past - the search for the evolution of language

Another interesting article caught my eye yesterday and it was discussing the evolution of language and whether or not its source could be found in the creating of flints (sharp edged pieces of stone acquired by striking a rock in a particular way - flintknapping). Truly a fascinating article in The Atlantic (credit to Kike Calvo of Associated Press).  Those of us who have had the extreme pleasure of spending 100% of our time with our baby (or it could be someone else's baby) from birth to adulthood (and mostly I was never away from my children except when I was ill for a short period when my oldest was young) have watched this miracle of language erupt from a child. We have watched as they grew and their brains grew with them and I just never thought in the terms expressed by this article in a possible scenario in which language emerged. I thought the "Secrets of the Neanderthals" on Netflix was interesting in that they actually have language being used by the characters portraying Neanderthals.

My oldest daughter quite shocked me when she repeated at the age of three months "little girl." I had said it to her pretty constantly from the time when she was born. No reason why; just amazed at having a baby after a miscarriage a couple of years earlier. Soon so many more words which I actually recorded but the first words were so unexpected at the time but the human brain is still a mystery I suspect in many ways not having been involved in that type of research at any time in my life. Amazingly as the baby grows so does the head and the more facts and information that you expose a child to the more they absorb, learn and then the questions start to emerge around ten months in her case. All children are different as my second child's forays into language began differently but life was busier and I had less time to sit there and talk to a baby whenever she was awake. 

I now have my surgery time which was a wondrous happening as right out of the blue I was called a day early. I told the person that they had absolutely made my day. Great news though as I was beginning to wonder what the time would be. The recovery period appears to be around two months since you are not supposed to go and get new glasses until that time period has passed. I have this all planned out so that I get my glasses in late summer. It will be an unusual summer for me not being deeply immersed in books so to speak except generally I am reading them on the computer screen these days. I hope to continue my Latin daily with the help of my daughter but it will be more verbal than read. Since my Latin has taken on a new life with my really getting into this idea of speaking and putting sentences together it should be a rather interesting time. 

Bedding plants found and purchased and today we plant the garden with seeds and bulbs as is relevant. There is also someone coming to give a quote on cutting dead branches out of my tree out front and trimming the globe cedar. So a busy time ahead. 

Exercises and then breakfast as the day moves forward. Thank you God for the beauty of the world around us. Too bad it is marred by the bitterness of Iran as they support terrorism around the world. One wonders what is the aim of Iran in supporting Russia except they see it as a way to eliminate the white race whom they hate by getting NATO and Russia to destroy each other (the loss of Muslim lives in these countries is a price that Iran will happily pay to rid the world of non-Muslims). Russia doesn't see that and I am not sure that China does either. The Iranian leader is a very disturbed individual - orders young women beaten to death for simply not wearing a hijab as commanded. Very sick.

The day goes forward.

No comments: