Though there are "different" languages, they all have certain commonalities -- certain parameters that are set, and that can be "switched" in different ways to produce different languages, according to Noam Chomsky. Language acquisition is rendered somewhat less astounding in this perspective, as it is "hard-wired" into the brain. Children begin language acquisition by making vocal noises that eventually become words of the "target language" -- this works the same way with hand gestures for signing language. First words usually occur between 9 and 14 months, with the "word explosion" occurring around 18 months for most infants. B.F. Skinner saw language acquisition as "operant behavior" with reinforcement necessary; Chomsky argues that language is more automatic for humans, requiring less exposure and reinforcement than in Skinner's schema.
Video 13: 19:09-27:13
The case of Genie, who had been deprived of language (as well as other elements of development) until her early teens, shows how vital the early years of childhood...
Genie was able to build a huge vocabulary of many words,
learning them readily and eagerly, but was never able to master putting together grammatically correct sentences with small words like "the" and "a." This also showed, however, that language and
communication are not the same thing or mutually dependent, and Genie's
intelligence in other areas demonstrated that language abilities are separate from native intelligence and other cognitive factors. Language can also affect the way we think, with "high context"
languages and "low context" languages forming a major example of this -- "yes" might not always mean "yes" in certain languages, depending on the context. Different cultural backgrounds shape thinking and language in similar trajectories.
