[Xmca-l] Re: Michael C. Corballis

[Andy Blunden]

That's fine, Peter. On reflection I should have omitted
mention of "linguistics" because it was not actually that
linguistics I was interested in.

I was driving yesterday, and I heard a radio talk
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/where-did-language-come-from/10404342


This is a topic which has long interested me. The speaker
(which turned out to be Corballis) did a great job on
Chomsky and several other theories that I was unaware of, I
didn't get to hear his punch line, but he seemed really
sound. So when I got home I did some internet searches and
found that he did support my prejudice, that is, that
tool-use and speech co-evolved in the origins of our species.

I had made this claim in my article "Tool and Sign in
Vygotsky's Development"
https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/pdfs/Tool%20and%20Sign%20in%20Vygotskys%20Development.pdf

but never had any basis for making the claim and this was
always preying on my conscience, so I was interested to know
if Corballis was some crank making unfounded guesses, like
me, or he was the real goods. I read stuff about his
neuroscience research showing the interconnection between
handling ancient tools and handling words, but this is so
far out of my field (insofar as I have one at all), I
couldn't rationally assess the idea.

So! I am very pleased with the report you have given me. I
have ordered his book "From Hand to Mouth – The Origins of
Language" and look forward to its arrival in Australia,
hopefully before Christmas!

Andy

------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Blunden
http://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm
On 27/10/2018 3:18 AM, Peter Feigenbaum [Staff] wrote:
> Andy,
>
> I'm familiar with his 1991 book entitled *The Lopsided
> Ape: Evolution of the Generative Mind*, 
> and I found his perspective on the evolutionary
> developments of brain, mind, and language to 
> be reasonable, coherent, and very compelling. When I read
> it (about 25 years ago), I was 
> particularly focused on the evolutionary connections
> between handedness, left hemispheric 
> dominance for language, and the evolution of the
> anatomical relations between the brain regions 
> that control the fine motor movements of the thumb and
> those of the tongue.
>
> So when I saw your question, I pulled the book off the
> shelf and re-read the parts on the neural 
> foundations of language and mental representation - and
> found them to be chock full of good
> and useful ideas!  Alas, while I can attest that Corballis
> certainly has a sound working knowledge 
> of the biological and neural structures of language, as
> well as the basic psychological functions that are
> sub-served by these structures, this seminal book doesn't
> really speak to his work as a linguist.
>
> In fact, the book lists him as affiliated with the
> Department of Psychology at the University of Aukland, and
> so I always assumed he was a psychologist. But if he is
> indeed a linguist, and if he has carried the quality and
> clarity of thought and understanding expressed in his
> older work on evolution of the human brain into his later
> life, I'd wager he's a pretty good linguist.
>
> May I ask what prompted your question?
>
> Cheers,
> Peter
>
>      
>
> On Fri, Oct 26, 2018 at 3:13 AM, Andy Blunden
> <andyb@marxists.org <mailto:andyb@marxists.org>> wrote:
>
>     Is anyone familiar with the work of Michael C.
>     Corballis as a linguist? Is he any good?
>
>     andy
>
>
>     -- 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>     Andy Blunden
>     http://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm
>     <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.ethicalpolitics.org_ablunden_index.htm&d=DwMCaQ&c=aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=mXj3yhpYNklTxyN3KioIJ0ECmPHilpf4N2p9PBMATWs&m=6rABLbgQXNmFR3I1MRyXWnwkYlMV8UA9eNMBReMJ2G8&s=_MacMRb35H57uhad46QsFEcixR0ZeRymdVs7-klmN8U&e=>
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Peter Feigenbaum, Ph.D.
> Director, 
> Office of Institutional Research
> <https://www.fordham.edu/info/24303/institutional_research>
> Fordham University
> Thebaud Hall-202
> Bronx, NY 10458
>  
> Phone: (718) 817-2243
> Fax: (718) 817-3817
> email: pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu
> <mailto:pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu>

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