Language Acquisition

Normally I formulate an opinion on an issue but in the case of language acquisition I am siding with both arguments. In my opinion, we learn language due to an innate ability (Nativist Theory) and because of our interaction with our surroundings. I believe both theories play an intricate role in humans developing the ability to learn and apply linguistics. I understand both party’s arguments and feel both have a legitimate argument.

I have never met a person that remembers actually speaking their first word. We normally discover what our first spoken word was from our parents. How did we learn to speak that very first word? The Nativist Theory suggests that we are born with an innate ability to learn language. The article from Wikipedia indicated that as a baby we are able to decipher the word pairs “bah” and “pah.”

On the other side of the debate, you have the theory that we learn language due to our environment. We are first introduced to language via oral communication. We repeat or imitate what we hear from our parents and learn to communicate orally. One article suggests that we learn grammatical rules from listening to our parents. For example, looking at a kindergarten class can support this belief. They enter the first day of school able to speak and communicate with each other and the teacher. Depending on the individual you can say they have acquired this skill by observing their parents or they had an innate ability to do so.

There are two disturbing cases of children that were not raised in a “normal” environment and never acquired the ability to speak. This is in reference to Victor, The Wild Boy of Aveyron and Genie. But it can also be argued that Victor may have learned to speak a language spoken between animals. After reviewing the material, I could accept both theories together as one larger theory. The two arguments appear to blend together in my opinion. You cannot have one without the other. We have the innate ability to learn language and it is nurtured by our ability to observe our environment. The two thoughts blur together into one huge theory for me. I am curious to see how others view this argument.

The aspect of reading allows a child to visually put speech into words and pictures. I believe there is a strong importance introducing children to written words and pictures as early as possible. They can begin to correlate words to their surroundings. This past school year I had a student that struggled to read and had difficulty articulating his thoughts. As the school year progressed, his reading improved, and articulation improved. He began to use words he could read and had been learning to read throughout the school year. I remember being told, do not speak it if you cannot spell it. In his case, if he could not read it, he was not going to speak it. Linguistics is paired with literacy in my mind. The art of speaking, writing and reading all work together allowing us to communicate effectively with one another.