Scholarly Article #1

This article, The Evolution of Writing definitely tested my comprehensive skills. From what I understood, besides the fact that the whole chapter discussed the evolution of language and behavioral symbols, was that there are many theories on how language has effected society. I agree that writing is a secondary choice to speech, though writing is a proof of the speech, such as in science and philosophy, which makes me believe that perhaps writing should be considered more of a primary source, especially with the way we communicate today.

Media now plays a huge role, not just in how we communicate with one another but also in how we behave with one another. Like Pinker thought, as the language or consciousness  evolves, so do the people. With our phones, emails, and other forms of social networking, our writing has began to diminish into shorter more fragmented words-such as LOL. Where r u? and Idk. We are symbolizing the change that is taking place in our lives. Writing and communication is lacking, while our ability to communicate to several people at once has improved. Thus, the way we communicate is less important and impersonal.

I though it was very interesting as the neanderthals were discussed on how their communication was based upon "tools" or gestures to speak. Now, we can compare the language of our ancestors, their behavior with our speech and other "tools" to communicate. Since language is taught in almost every school around the world, people are becoming more creative in the way they present themselves, not just in their speech, but in their mannerisms, their phrases, their dress, and of course, behavior. The more eccentric, the more eye catching. Symbolism is the base of most of their appearance rather than in their speech or body language. It is very interesting to see how similar, yet so advanced, we have become.