ANTH 281 May 2020

ANTHROPOLOGY 281--Mass. Gravitation & Space-Time Curvature--TERMINISTIC SCREENS VS FLAT EARTH THEORY    31 May 2020

     (The Garage)-- There are no caveman drawings from the Neanderthals and Cro-magnons that depict their cosmological interpretation of the formation of the universe. From the very earliest times, where civilization first crept on to the scene, there was still only a very feeble understanding as to the roots of origin, for not just the universe but its inhabitants as well. Philosophers such as Aristotle (Greece, 384-323 BC)  and Ptolemy  (Egypt, 323-283 BC) spent a greater part of their lives studying falling objects and mapping the positions of the stars, as well as  those that "wandered." It was no wonder that amid all of this which included any number of more observers and philosophers, that early on, the notion that the earth was flat preoccupied the best of them.

     Columbus in 1492, not known for his friendliness to the natives in the lands he discovered, was at least able to start man thinking that the earth was not flat, but had some rudimentary form of curvature. Kepler (Germany, 1531-1630)  laboriously mapped planetary positions and developed some basic functions from them. His contemporary, Tycho Brahe (Denmark, 1546-1601)  was yet another astute observer and chronographer of stellar and planetary motion. Galileo, on or about 1590, dropped objects of variable weights from the leaning tower of Pisa to determine that all objects fall at a constant acceleration. The word "gravitas" was attributed to this phenomenon and later on, in England, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1747) used the word gravity as an iconic symbol to describe the movement of falling objects, more so in the context of force than motion. Gravity had come under the category of "language specialization."

     In the 19th century, Albert Einstein (Germany, USA, 1879-1955) developed his theories of relativity which redefined gravity in context of mass, space-time and its curvature due to mass. Once again, the word "gravity" had suffered another linguistic transformation; from motion, to force, to [product of mass. That's where the problem originates and that's where Gricean maxims and Burkean terministic screens play an important role in objectifying reality.

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ANTHROPOLOGY 281--Language Evolution--Acquisition--MACRO & MICRO CONSIDERATIONS    31 May 2020

(The Proscenium)--  Two completely different sides of the spectrum of linguistics might serve to enlighten development in both: language evolution and language acquisition.

Language Evolution is the length of time it takes for a language to develop from inception to fluency in a culture. This can be broken down into two categories: a proto-language, such as one never spoken before anywhere at any time; and an imported one, from another culture, another country.

Language Acquisition is the length of time it takes the individual to learn the language and utilize it to its primary capacity. This is related to a young child that has the capacity to hear words, repeat them, use them in a grammatical sense and ultimately be proficient in the language. There are many theories as to how this happens but none dramatically and accurately give a concrete example, depending on abstract concepts such as build in software in the brain or a trial and error use of words and sentences.

     There is no one solid accepted theory as to how language, any language, came from and how it was formed. Many theorize it was spontaneous, as life itself might have been; others use the slow, snail pace of evolution;e discovery of letters, formation of words, application of the words to act as symbols to identify objects, the development of sentences, so on and so forth.