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lectures > lectures spring 1999

Laughter and the Evolution of Language

Dr. Chris Knight
May 8 1999

The young of many species love to play. A play-bite resembles a real bite, but with the intention reversed. Similarly, when a mother says 'Boo!' to her baby, she aims to elicit laughter, not tears. Symbolic understanding is the realisation that things are not what they seem. The first linguistic utterance was probably a joke.

Dr. Chris Knight is Reader in Anthropology at the University of East London. His widely debated and acclaimed book, Blood Relations, Menstruation and the Origins of Culture (London & New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991) argues that symbolism was invented by women.

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