🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sep 2, 6:06 am, Doug Morse <mo...@edoug.org> wrote:
> What is the difference between language and concept, or are they the
> same thing?  Does language build on a conceptual system?  Or perhaps
> concepts emerge from or are a byproduct of linguistic representation
> and processing?  Most of all, what is a good definition of "concept"
> or "conceptual representation and processing", especially from a
> psychological, neuroscience, and linguistic point of view?  I find
> that these research areas routinely invoke the notion of concepts and
> conceptual processing, but a decent definition of them -- let alone a
> solid one -- seems terribly elusive.  So, thoughts and sources on this
> would be great to hear about.

Since you cross-posted this to bionet.neuroscience perhaps we can talk
a little about how language comes to be before we chatter about
concepts. Of course, we can only speculate, since practically nothing
is known.

I speculate that the motor program generators that produce phonemes
are centered in the parvicellular reticular nucleus (dorsolateral
hindbrain) with vocalization in general. The circuitry is constructed
by the genome. As the circuitry matures, the infant produces baby
talk. I am told, by those who study such things, that all the phonemes
that appear in adult language appear in baby talk. Is this not so? In
any event, I speculate that there is no "learning" of baby talk; the
neural circuitry just matures.

I say we talk by genomic inheritance; we learn a language.

I speculate that the phonemes are sequenced by circuitry that starts
in Broca's and Wernicke's areas of the neocortex. The sequenced motor
program(s) proceed via the thalamus to the motor area of the cortex
and a motor act (spoken language) ensues.

Those who would speak of "concepts" should ask themselves whether this
is important, or is it just part of the "learning" of language, a
process in which the neurons adjust themselves to the sounds that come
in. A process that is terribly, terribly difficult in detail, but
simple in "concept".

Ray