Conceptions of Language and Grammarbetween what we know and what we have linguistic evidence for must have
come from somewhere. It can only have come from cognitive and brain struc-
tures specialized for language acquisition. The linguists who are persuaded by
arguments like these hold that human beings do not enter the world as “blank
slates,” rather, they bring with them innate ideas that guide them in acquiring
their language(s).
On the basis of these observations, and the similarities between languages,
many linguists argue that human beings are genetically endowed with a capac-
ity to acquire languages with particular kinds of rule systems. They argue that
linguistic knowledge is of a different type than other knowledge, because it is
based on specialized cognitive structures, which in turn appear to be based on
specialized brain structures.
In support of this neurobiological claim, linguists point out that first lan-
guage learning must be accomplished within a “critical period” in a person’s
life (before the teenage years) if it is to be successful. Moreover, damage to cer-
tain parts of the brain, mainly in the left hemisphere, affects people’s linguistic
abilities, whereas damage to corresponding areas in the right hemisphere need
not. Thus the language capacity appears to be (at least partially) localized in
the left side of the brain. If this point of view is correct, it explains why, even
with intense and specific training, no non-humans (even the most intelligent
ones) have ever learned a human language.
In contrast, we must be taught how to write, though we may begin learn-
ing it at any age—but generally only after we have already learned a primary
form of language.
Exercise
- What kinds of errors have you observed people make as they learn a
second language? Or children as they learn their first language? - Find a description of one of the many attempts to teach an ape a
human language. Describe the teaching methods and the results. How
do they compare to the ways in which children acquire languages? How
do these animals’ linguistic skills compare with the linguistic skills of
ordinary people?
A language is infinite
Our view of language and grammar makes some very important claims about
the nature of knowledge, at least of linguistic knowledge. It used to be thought