LIN 1300 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Critical Period Hypothesis, Eric Lenneberg, Language Acquisition
11 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Many people believe language is what sets humans apart from other animals. Languages are highly complex and sophisticated systems. A predominant theory assumes that part of our ability to acquire language is innate and that children learn language by inventing the rules specific to their language. All children go through the same stages of language development: babbling, learning their first words, one word stage, two word stage, and learning the more complex structures of their language. Language acquisition is not limited to children. We learn to understand language and to speak during the first few years of our lives. Language is a communication system consisting of sounds, morphemes, words and rules for combining all of these. It enables people to understand and produce sentences they may never have heard or uttered before. Children must acquire a grammar with all its components and rules. Various theories have arisen that attempt to account for how children acquire language.
