LINGUIST List 14.3202

Fri Nov 21 2003

Qs: Instinctive Sound Words; Forensic Stylistics

Editor for this issue: Naomi Fox <foxlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. A.S.sundar, The concept of "Poral "words
2. Dongdoo Choi, Query

 The first language of communication amongst 'homo sapiens', in all
probability, could have been something in the form of a sign 
language, later supplemented by simple sounds. For the primitive Man,some 
easy-to-utter 'sounds' and 'group of sounds' would have acted as unique 
natural vehicles of communication. Early man who survived on hunting 
animals for food, over a period of time should have developed an 
expertise in imitating the animal sounds for hunting/trapping the 
animals of food. As need for communication among humans increased, Man 
should have used the already-familiar animal-like sounds for 
communication,as a natural evolution. These sounds come out naturally 
without any effort,as imitation of behavior in animal kingdom, including 
humans, is quite instinctive. For example,to express repulsion, say on 
smelling a stinking stuff, a sound 'chee' is quite natural. Flowing from 
this 'chee' sound, primitive Man could have coined the word 'pee' for the 
repulsive faeces. These type of words as a concept exists in Tamil and 
are called 'Poral Vagai'. The following 'single sound' words are a few 
examples of 'Poral Vagai'.(Vagai means 'type')

 I-sound of exclamation,in surprise

 Oh -sound of lamenting

 Ayyoh-Sound of fear

 Later additions-verbs and nouns.

 Vaa-come

 Po-go

 Tha -give

 Thee-Fire

 Thoo-expression of Shame

For my research on origin of first spoken languages, I am interested in
knowing whether such 'Poral' words are available in other languages as
well. Kindly e-mail your comments to yasun52hotmail.com.

I shall be posting a summary of responses received to Linguist List in
due course.

A.S.Sundar

Hello,

I'd like to conduct an academic survey as to the degree of your
acceptance of a technique used in forensic stylistics as a scientific
methodology. The United States Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrell
Dow Pharmaceuticals stated that in determining whether a theory or
technique is admissible as scientific evidence, a degree of acceptance
of the theory in a relevant scientific community is a pertinent factor
to be considered.

If you are willing to participate in my survey, please send an email
to don.choiasu.edu or ddluv71hotmail.com. Then, I will send you my
short questionnaire.

Thank you for your participation in advance,

Don Choi (2nd year law student)

don.choiasu.edu