Peter Bradley

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What this team discovered is reminiscent of a G1 language. The aphasics in Gibson’s study use contextual clues more extensively than non-aphasic subjects in order to interpret what is spoken to them. Homo erectus, in my model at least, would have produced utterances that were highly ambiguous or vague or both, depending on his or her interlocutor’s ability to link speech to context for an interpretation more or less in the ballpark of what was intended.† Homo erectus might, therefore, have used a strategy similar to aphasics for interpreting sentences. But that is what all people do. All ...more
How Language Began: The Story of Humanity's Greatest Invention
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