Steve Simmons <scs at di.org> writes: > Language per se doesn't seem to be hard-wired, but grammar does. By > grammar I mean breaking things down into subject, verb, object, clauses, > modifiers, etc, etc. Even the oddest of languages (Basque, Navaho) > have common characteristics. > > Our brains seem to be hard-wired for grammar. Within the patterns > set down for grammar (subject-verb-object, verb-subject-object, etc, etc) > we wind up with lots of different languages. It's hard to ascertain really certainly, at our current level of knowledge. Many people expect mathematics to be a good way to establish communications with aliens (along with basic physics), because they believe they're universal. I the subject, verb, object concepts may be basic to any possible language in the same way. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b at dd-b.net / New TMDA anti-spam in test John Dyer-Bennet 1915-2002 Memorial Site http://john.dyer-bennet.net Book log: http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/Ouroboros/booknotes/ New Dragaera mailing lists, see http://dragaera.info