Re: Human language (long)

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Next message: John the ForeRunner: "Re: Tompkins is not the sole secret to all Egypts pyramids"
• Previous message: Al Curtis: "Wolpoff v. Swisher"

In article <seagoat.798.028825A9@primenet.com>, seagoat@primenet.com
says...

> This is not quite correct. The brains of young children are very plastic and
> are good at mastering anything new, not just language. For those who think
> our brains are hard-wired for language, consider that the linguistic
> hemisphere of many left-handers is the right hemisphere, and that the right
> hemisphere of a young child with a missing left hemisphere can acquire speech
> in just a slightly degraded fashion. The plastic brain of a young child can
> adapt to a variety of learning tasks.
>
> Regards,
>
> John Halloran

I think you may want to spend the time to read Steven Pinker's book, "The
Language Instinct". Pinker, a linguist and cognitive pyschologist,
provides more than ample evidence to prove that in fact language is
instinctual. In addition to many detailed experiments, Pinker includes
evidence of recently created creole languages, and the modification of
scientifically developed sign languages by the second generation of
speakers, in which the deaf children, largely independent of contact with
one another, all modified the sign language in the same way to be a
"real" language.

Best,

Noel Dickover

• Next message: John the ForeRunner: "Re: Tompkins is not the sole secret to all Egypts pyramids"
• Previous message: Al Curtis: "Wolpoff v. Swisher"