Language: have it or gain it?

Leila Shearon
9.25.09

Thesis

The development of language in a human child is not strictly the work of neither nature nor nurture; it is a combination of both.

Quotes
“For you and I belong to a species with remarkable ability…”
>>I decided to use this quote to state that the communication is more complex and advanced than that of animals. Since it is more complex it requires nurture for it to grow to its full potential. (Pinker page 1)

Language is not a cultural artifact that we learn the way we learn to tell time or how the federal government works. Instead, it is a distinct piece of biological makeup of our brains. (Pinker page 18)
“Language is a complex, specialized skill, which develops in a child spontaneously without conscious effort or formal instruction”(Pinker page 3)
>>I will use these quote to state the side that Pinker takes. His opinion is only half of what I believe is truth.
“I find it difficult to believe that this is entirely a coincidence and that imitation has nothing to do with it. Moreover, it is a sociological truism that children tend to speak not merely that language but the dialect of their parents." (Dalrymple page 4)
>>I will use this quote to state that culture and surrounding also has a part in the development of language in a child.