The English Language english language

Conceptions of Language and Grammar

Rumbaugh and Lewin 1994; Sebeok, 1981; Sebeok and Rosenthal, 1981;
Terrace, 1981; Wallman 1992.)
We must add here that all normal human beings can be both producers
and receivers of human language, a characteristic known as reciprocity or
interchangeability. In many animal communication systems one sex, usu-
ally the male, produces signals while the other merely receives them.
Another perspective on this issue is the relationship between intelligence
and language. Assuming (controversially) that IQ provides a reliable index of
intelligence, Lenneberg claimed that language abilities are not significantly
absent even at dramatically low levels (though he may have overstated the case
[Jackendoff 2002: 95 n.13]):

Children whose I.Q. is 50 at age 12 and about 30 at age 20 are com-

pletely in possession of language though their articulation may be

poor and an occasional grammatical mistake may occur. (Lenneberg

1964: 41-42)

A language is culturally transmitted
No child comes into the world capable of learning only a specific language
or set of languages. All normal children can learn any human language. All
they need is appropriate learning situations. Languages are transmitted from
one generation to the next by cultural transmission, not by genetic trans-
mission, as is the case with many animal communication systems.
Having said that, we must add that without the physiological and neu-
rological bases that language depends on, children would be unable to learn
any language. So learning a language depends upon having both the right
biological bases and the right learning environment.

Knowledge of a language is unconsciously present in the
mind
Consider the following questions:

(1) a. Do you like duckling?

b. Do you like snorkeling?

c. Do you like Kipling?

Without the slightest bit of thought, you know which one of these ques-
tions can be answered Yes, I like to. You know that snorkel but
not duckle or Kiple can occur after I like to __. You can tell all of this
without any knowledge of grammatical analysis such as that snorkel is a
verb. And though you may not know terms such as morpheme and di-