Language: have it or gain it?(INTRO)

Leila Shearon
Hughes
10.2.09
“Mamma” and “dada” are the most common first words that an English speaking baby verbalizes. Months before those particular words escaped the infants mouth he/she was already familiar with communication. “Ohh” and “awww” added with hand motions and other gesture to signal hunger or a want. As the baby is stepping into the world of more advanced language scientist and psychologist begin to pose questions. Is language a learned element of life or is it something that is merely learned? Dalrymple and Pinker are two of the many men and women that has studied and stated their views on this subject. Pinker states that language is biological, inherited from your parents. Dalrymple, on the other hand, argues that language is learned and does not occur “naturally”. The development of language in a human child is not strictly the work of neither nature nor nurture; it is a combination of both. Both aspects mix together and form one of the most important skills in the life of this child, language.