Learning Language: Biological or Cultural

Mary Elizabeth Lowe
English 1101
Hughes
2/25/2009



Thesis Statement:

While a number of individuals believe undoubtedly that language is purely biological or learned, a more logical conclusion is in the blending of both inheritance and learning of language. A biological neural program in each human beings head is an innate essential for future language; however, it is equally vital to hear the voices of language in order to fully communicate and reach one’s linguistic potential.



Quotes:


“Language is a complex, specialized skill, which develops in a child spontaneously without conscious effort or formal instruction”
(Pinker, 3)

This quote will provide credibility due to the fact he is a well educated and published writer. This statement will be used to argue that language is an innate ability in all people. One does not necessarily need a formal education to communicate, but it is obviously quite helpful.

“It is utterly implausible to suggest that imitation of parents ( or other social contacts) has nothing whatever to do with the acquisition of language. I hesitate to mention so obvious a consideration , but Chinese parents tend to have Chinese-speaking children, and Portuguese parents Portuguese-speaking ones”. (Dalrymple, 3)

This remark about Chinese speaking children having Chinese parents provides a great amount of evidence that language is learned rather than solely biological. I was raised by English speaking parents and I speak English. If language was purely biological as some people think, why did I not learn Chinese instead of English?


Noam Chomsky basic argument is that there exists an innate language acquisition device, a neural program that prepares them to learn language (Kandel 638). http://www.duke.edu/~pk10/language/neuro.htm

This quote provides scientific evidence that in the brain there is the capacity to learn language. It is not so much that we are born speaking, but when we hear others speaking, the “neural program” in our minds enables us to pick up, repeat, and form unique sentences. Thus, a combination of biological and learned aspects are at work.


"No child would ever talk unless he were taught; and no child could be taught unless he already possessed, by inheritance, a particular series of nervous arrangements ready for training"(Marshall, 41). http://www.duke.edu/~pk10/language/neuro.htm

This is an expert opinion that states a child must be ready in his mind, with the needed “nervous arrangements” in order to further that already possessed skill of language through further instruction and teaching. Both steps are needed in language, inheritance and teaching.