<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr">On Mar 4, 2021, at 8:43 AM, William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org> wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">I would read a book on punctuation. It reminds me of an episode on Johnny Carson about a guy who made specific noises to indicate punctuation: for a period, he spit. For a comma, another sound, and so on. He first demonstrated each sound then read a passage and used each sound. Funny! Reminds me of the !Kung African language. bill w</div></div></div></blockquote><br><div><div dir="ltr">There are a bunch of click languages — most in Africa (Khoisan family, I think) and a few outside (mainly in Australia, so probably going extinct if not already extinct). I seem to recall someone positing that click consonants are evolutionarily basal. In other words, that they’re among the first phonemes humans or human ancestors used. I’m not sure if this view holds sway in the field.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Regarding the book, since it’s a history of punctuation that pulled me in more than, say, a usage book.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Regards,</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Dan</div></div></body></html>