Un'ipotesi di modello evolutivo della lingua cinese con riferimenti al turco e all'indoeuropeo. Una ricerca di lessicologia comparata sulla base delle recenti scoperte nelle neuroscienze.

Abstract

Beside historical linguistics, the encounter with great scientists and their works on the brain functioning has has an impact on this study. The dichotomy of Vygotsky between one sense as generating idea and multiple meanings brought me to the division between “Big Seed, Seed and Seedlings”. The TNGS “Theory of neural group selection” developed by G. Edelman, made me understand that it is no use looking for prehistoric origins behind single roots. A book by M. Nicolelis with the Italian title of “Universal Brain” made me introduce at the end of my model the concept of the “Thinking Thought”. But most of all I was biased by the theory of mirror neurons: the adoption of it made me build string of roots much longer than the traditional ones: to define them I found no better term than “Foil Front”(FF). The not rare confirmation by the phonology of W.B. Baxter and the close-fitting relation of correspondencies between roots in different families, (e.g. chinese/ turkish/latin, zhu/suetuen/colonna- and niang/anne/mulier) compel us to dismiss the casuality basis transcend by far the Big Seed principle: so they can only be attributed either to a brain operator (FF) or to a genetic relation of the families. A second thing visible in this writing is my constant interest in Darwin, the evolution theory and the latest developments of it, that is the “ocean ridges theory”. On such a basis I worked on a small model, that would function on a small number of data, turning around a small number of rules. From the beginning it was clear that my “ocean ridges” would be the labiovelars, the liquids and the fricatives. Talking metaphorically the evolution would correspond to a highway from G/Genua, through L/Lodi to F/Fusina (Venice dockland). Now down to earth. The material is divided along three watersheds: the TT Thinking Thought that is the director of the entire evolution. The MM Meaning Movement that corresponds to the semantics. The SS Sound Shift that is the phonology. The MM is the study of the root: the root starts from a minimal unit called R3 in SS and Q Quark in MM, and develops along bigger and bigger concentric circles (© or CM Coppia Minima, TT Terna Tornante, CH Chiazza, FF Foil Front) where CH is more or less a puddle of more than three words and has the key function of proving the rotating of a root from one area to the other (e.g. ladle, Laden and Loden in German, lather). The ultimate unit of the root is the WW or Way of the Word : the collation shows few roots (clear/dark, warm/cold, right/crook) and their descent. For scanning the "Seedlings" a "highway of the Seeds" is built: the meanings are divided in about 24 categories, following the D. Buck's list; of them only the first 12 of material culture are of corcern. The study of SS divides the phonetic producing areas in three: the primeval area (velars...), the by-pass area (liquids...) and the descent area (fricatives...). The model visualizes in a "highway of the sounds" the evolution of (ONLY) Chinese, Latin and Turkish, as the descent from the first to the third area. Concretely the research is made on a core vocabulary list (CC Constant Corpus) concentrating on: - Phonological Shifts and Mutations: head, middle, coda, prothesis and elision of the roots; - Collations: concordances and discordances of selected roots-FF in the three languages. The conclusion of the writing claims to have broken new ground in introducing in linguistics the mirror neuron theory (FF). It tries also to show that the presented model of evolution is compatible with the data collected.