How Do Humans Acquire Language - 1332 Words

How Do Humans Acquire Language? Humans live in a world full of communication. Humans possess a native language that separates them from other animals. Language is developed within the first few years of a person s life. By the time one is a child; he can speak and understand almost as well as an adult. Children world-wide exhibit similar patterns of language acquisition even though they may be learning different languages. How humans learn even the most complicated languages has perplexed the minds of many scientists. Two of the most popular beliefs on language acquisition today are held by Skinner and Chomsky. Their opposing belief on how humans acquire language has become the two standard views on this complicated issue;†¦show more content†¦Also, the language acquisition device provided infants with the ability to fix or deduce a theory for their native language. This is called the parameter setting, and is one of Chomsky s most well known ideas (374). Chomsky bel ieves that the structure of language is not fully learned by experience but is in part at least embedded in the network of connections of the human brain (Fromkin 3). This idea confirms how children have the ability to acquire language on even slight exposure and without specific training. Pinker explains Chomsky s theory very clearly by summarizing that: Virtually every sentence that a person utters or understands is a brand-new combination of words, appearing for the first time in the history of the universe. Therefore a language cannot be a repertoire of responses; the brain must contain a recipe or program that can build an unlimited set of sentences out of a finite list of words. The second fundamental fact us that children develop these complex grammars rapidly and without formal instruction and grow up to give consistent interpretations to novel sentence constructions that they have never before encountered. Therefore [Â…] children must innately be equipped with a plan common to the grammars of all languages, a Universal Grammar, that tells them how to distill synaptic patterns out of the speech of their parents. (9) His summary of Chomsky s fundamental facts about language explainsShow MoreRelatedEssay about How Do Humans Acquire Language?1294 Words   |  6 Pages How Do Humans Acquire Language? nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Humans live in a world full of communication. Humans possess a native language that separates them from other animals. Language is developed within the first few years of a person’s life. By the time one is a child; he can speak and understand almost as well as an adult. Children world-wide exhibit similar patterns of language acquisition even though they may be learning different languages. How humans learn even the most complicatedRead MoreLinguistic Nativism: There’s Something Between the Ears Language is something that humans use and1300 Words   |  6 PagesLinguistic Nativism: There’s Something Between the Ears Language is something that humans use and encounter every day. Whether it be writing a paper, reading an email, talking to your best friend on the phone, or asking someone for directions, the use of language is broad and heavily intertwined with experiencing the world in the human condition. But the question of how humans come from being silent babies to speaking children is still unanswered. 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Traditionally, it has been understood that language is used to express thoughts;convey ideas individuals hold in minds via a transmissible form, for instance: sounds, body language, expressions or written symbols.H owever, we are introduced to multiculturalism in our time which conveys many languages are spokenRead MoreLanguage and the Brain1642 Words   |  7 PagesLanguage and the brain   Ã‚  Ã‚   Many people assume the physical basis of language lies in the lips, the tongue, or the ear.   But deaf and mute people can also possess language fully.   People who have no capacity to use their vocal cords may still be able to comprehend language and use its written forms.   And human sign language, which is based on visible gesture rather than the creation of sound waves, is an infinitely creative system just like spoken forms of language.   But the basis of sign languageRead MoreCharacteristics Of A First And Second Language : Behaviorism, Innatism And Social Interactionist Essay1641 Words   |  7 Pagesof approaches have been proposed to explain the phenomenon of language acquisition. These models were influenced by variety of disciplines and research directions, such as cognitive psychology, linguistics, etc.; therefore, the models relate to linguistic development in various ways. One of the most striking differences between the approaches is the perceptio n of the place of heredity and environment in the process of acquiring language, but as we shall see each approach gives them a different weight