Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T14:39:06.030Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Do we have a genetically programmed drive to acquire language?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

David F. Armstrong
Affiliation:
Gallaudet University, Washington DC
William C. Stokoe
Affiliation:
Gallaudet University, Washington DC
Sherman E. Wilcox
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico
Get access

Summary

Men are created, not with a God-given language, but with a God-given capacity to make signs and sounds, and by the use of these to form a language. No child comes into the world with a language; that is an acquisition, and the child always acquires the language of its parents, or of those by whom it is surrounded.

Amos Kendall, Introductory address at the inauguration of the College for the Deaf and Dumb

It is apparent that the question in the title of this chapter is closely related to the question of linguistic modularity, and it is also apparent that in its most general sense the answer to it, as was apparent to Amos Kendall, must be yes, since all children under normal circumstances do, more or less, acquire the language of their community. The principal problem for modularists is to show how an innate program could lead to such a variety of languages, now known to include signed languages. More particularly, how, if language were genetically programmed, is it that an infant from any social group can easily learn the language of any other social group? Is there a general program that operates from global rules, or a series of modules related to specific aspects of language? Or, as associationists would insist, is the brain extremely plastic and languages based entirely upon negotiated conventions within social groups?

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×