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From: marty1@houdi.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.ai,comp.cog-eng,sci.misc
Subject: Re: Genesis of language (was: Why can't my cat talk, and a bunch of others)
Message-ID: <1431@houdi.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 4-Dec-87 14:25:34 EST
Article-I.D.: houdi.1431
Posted: Fri Dec  4 14:25:34 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 8-Dec-87 03:21:52 EST
References: <1987Dec2.182753.622@mntgfx.mentor.com>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel
Lines: 38
Xref: utgpu comp.ai:1121 comp.cog-eng:340 sci.misc:584
Summary: Looks good as a hypothesis, but not as a model for AI

In article <1987Dec2.182753.622@mntgfx.mentor.com>,
msellers@mntgfx.mentor.com (Mike Sellers) writes:
> 
> ...  so I thought > I'd go ahead and throw in some neurological data....
> I'd appreciate comments, as I've not seen much in the way of cognition or 
> linguistics from a neurological point of view on the net.] ....

It's hard to begin to summarize a 200-line article that combines functional
and physiological observations and hypotheses in such a global way, but the
bottom line seems to be:

> Linguistic ability ... can only be brought about given a base containing
> enough neural structure with a long period of highly dynamic change and
> maturation and enough stimulation of the structure to organize it into 
> function groups (ala neuronal nuclei).

I don't have any facts to add to that.  I have generally been relying
on another person's experience in second-language teaching and in the
training of second language teachers, and on my own casual reading in
Science and Scientific American.  However, the above synthesis (and the
full discussion of which it is a summary) looks so good to me that I
don't want to let it drop without a ripple.  It makes a lot of sense.

But the later statement,

> ....  I do not believe that we will ever realize natural
> language processing or any other sort of complex cognitive ability in 
> artificial systems until we learn more about the development of the human
> brain and take this information into account in our models.

has to be read cautiously.  It means we need a good understanding of
the essential processes required to process language.  As has been
pointed out by others, it doesn't mean we should imitate structures
and techniques that are just one way of executing those processes.

M. B. Brilliant					Marty
AT&T-BL HO 3D-520	(201)-949-1858
Holmdel, NJ 07733	ihnp4!houdi!marty1