Job Discussion Forums

[buravirgil]

Linked from The Economist website A word in the hand is an article I found of interest in which the distinctions of telic and atelic verbs were similar in both American and Italian Sign Languages. A few excerpts below:

FIRST, tap your forehead with your index finger. Then, with hands at shoulder width and forming a circle using the thumb and index finger of each, move your hands from neck height downward, stopping abruptly. If you are not fluent in American Sign Language, you would struggle to guess that this motion means “decide”—but a study published this week suggests that non-signers can guess at least one crucial aspect of the word.
...
In 2003 Ronnie Wilbur, of Purdue University, in Indiana, noticed that the signs for telic verbs in American Sign Language tended to employ sharp decelerations or changes in hand shape at some invisible boundary, while signs for atelic words often involved repetitive motions and an absence of such a boundary. Dr Wilbur believes that sign languages make grammatical that which is available from the physics and geometry of the world. “Those are your resources to make a language,” she says. As such, she went on to suggest that the pattern could probably be found in other sign languages as well.
...
The notion that humans may share such communication basics is also fuel to Dr Wilbur’s idea that sign language long predated the spoken kind. Establishing either proposition will take far more work. But the present findings are a good sign.

Quite the pun at the end.

[water rat]

Is a Symbol's Meaning Arbitrary?

Yes, absolutely - except for this one.

[johnslat]

Dear water rat,

I don't know - it could be implying that "Poison Help" is a terrible place to call.

Regards,
John

[Sashadroogie]

Interesting article. But I find MacNeilage's comments on sign language more compelling - especially the reasons he gives for not believing that sign language was humanity's original way of communicating prior to speech, or even existed as a real language before its development for the deaf.

Lots of controversy here:

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-origin-of-speech-9780199236503?cc=ru&lang=en&

[buravirgil]

Academic journal versus my original cite ...

Languages less arbitrary than long assumed
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Munchen
October 01, 2015

[wangdaning]

Symbols are of high value if mutually recognized. You can get info out quickly. The thing to ponder is which are neutral and which are malicious.