Language

I was really excited to start the language unit, I thought all of the material sounded really interesting, I even ended up writing my research paper on it. I think one of the most interesting pieces of material for this section would have to be the movie we watched on languages and how they think there might be one language that all the others branch off from. That seems really interesting to me, and makes a lot of sense. People are always saying how a lot of languages steam from Latin, but I never thought about there being one central language that everything else branches off from.
It links really well with the ideas of evolution. If all humans and their language originated in one general area the language they had would have been standard throughout groups of people, until they separated and scattered throughout the world creating the other languages and dialects we hear and speak today. The movie started an interesting discussion about when a new language or dialect is formed, how much must change before it is considered a new language. It was interesting to see how the changes can start from a simple accent or a slight carelessness in the pronunciation of a word or phrase. Slang terms can also affect language a lot as well, in different areas that speak the same language they can have different meanings for the same words. Like the pants example that Professor MacCormack brought up. Overall I think the general topic of language is interesting and studying its origins and the effects on the people that speak it seems like a good way to spend a few weeks.

Demonic Males

This reading by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson struck my attention because it made me think about the power of genders. As it said, throughout history most societies would ban women from having anything to do with participating in war. The men wanted to feel as if they had the strength the women did not. This made me think that maybe it was the men who were weak and insecure with themselves. If they truly were as strong as they claimed why would they be threatened fighting amongst women? The women referred to endure being discriminated against, beaten, raped, and many other horrific things. It makes me wonder, if gender roles were switched would men be able to endure such things?

-Molly Hilken