Replies

Try to teach someone how to make a Clovis point by only pointing and grunting.
Fracture propagation vector analysis doesn't translate well into "Ugh!"... Try it; I have...

I submit the following facts which demonstrate that spoken language is not necessary for learning complex tasks.

1. Helen Keller earned a college diploma without even the advantages of pointing and grunting.
2. Predatory felines and lycans learn to hunt mostly by watching the adults and imitating them. Of course, they have an instinctual predisposition toward hunting, but it must be learned.
3. Someone must have discovered how to make a Clovis point all by himself (or with the help of Divine inspiration) if we are to avoid an infinite regression. Thus it was done without linguistic instruction.

Not all thinking is done with words. Where do musical ideas come from? The ideas come first, then musicologists assign names to the forms.