Myth: Knowledge of language is present at birth. It is encoded in the microcircuitry of the human brain. This allows children to learn language without parents (or anybody else) trying to teach them, or correcting their mistakes (e.g., I sitted down, versus I sat down). Language is therefore an instinct, emerging naturally, rather than being learned by imitation, for instance; a minimum of exposure to thesounds and words of a specific language is sufficient for a language to grow in a speaker’s mind.