Intro

Every day children are born all over the world, and will develop a knowledge of language in their early years that will continue to grow through their childhood. Although anyone can witness that children in fact do learn their mother language painlessly and easily, one problem holds: how? Seeking to answer this question, Steven Pinker states that language is “a distinct piece of the biological makeup of our brains” (Pinker, 18). On the other hand, Dalrymple asserts the influence of culture, as “it is a sociological truism that children tend to speak not merely the language but the dialect of their parents” (Dalrymple, 5). The two men’s opposing explanations of language further muddy the water. Is language really the product of our cultural influences, or is there really “an instinct to acquire and art”? In truth, no matter how strong Dalrymple’s argument for culture and Pinker’s argument for biology are, they do not stand strong enough to justify that language originates from either cause alone. Human linguistic development originates from a fine blend of both biological and cultural influences.