Linguistics

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Genomic study indicates our capacity for language emerged 135,000 years ago (phys.org)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I've heard about it. The hypothesis is probably false, but I still wish people developed it further, since it questions a lot of things people take for granted when it comes to the human mind (e.g. consciousness is innate).

If it is true, consciousness would've appeared practically yesterday, and considerably after the development of language. For example Jaynes claims that the Ancient Greeks still had a bicameral mind, instead of a single and unified conscience.

That said it's tempting to analyse the origins of language in the absence of consciousness.