Are we born with the a language gene or do we learn it from a blank slate?

[Giaodollo]

As the topics state, what is your opinion? Obviously I am talking about our mother tongue and as newborns.

[magic chiongson]

you learn it

[fiddy]

[KNOW1EDGE]

Are you serious?

[DeuceWallaces]

[Batz]

Probably gonna have to pizza this one.

[Hittin_Shots]

Are you asking if we're born with a better understanding of the language our parents spoke or if we were put somewhere else would we pick it up that language just as easy...

Really?

[~primetime~]

[24-Inch_Chrome]

[L.Kizzle]

Anything is possible

[NumberSix]

That's actually very interesting. Recent discovery has actually shown that life experiences do affect the biology of following generations.

Obviously, language has to be learned, but whether the experiences of ancestors makes a genetic impact is very interesting and definitely worth exploring.

Always remember. Our understanding of DNA is still pretty new. Don't think for a second that in that short amount of time we have it all figured out. There's still an enormous amount about biology that we don't know.

[RidonKs]

both.... kinda depends what you mean by language lol

[Giaodollo]

That's actually very interesting. Recent discovery has actually shown that life experiences do affect the biology of following generations.

Obviously, language has to be learned, but whether the experiences of ancestors makes a genetic impact is very interesting and definitely worth exploring.

Always remember. Our understanding of DNA is still pretty new. Don't think for a second that in that short amount of time we have it all figured out. There's still an enormous amount about biology that we don't know.

I think I expressed myself badly in the OP, but thanks for your non sarcastic post at least

I was reading about Noam Chomskys research about universal grammar and how linguistic structure are innate in humans. This was back in the 50s, so I suppose as you say it is still "new".

I was also reading about an experiment from deaf children, four american and four Chinese children all aged 3 to 4 when the experiment took place. They were documented with help of film and the mothers all tried to speak loudly so the children learnt how to read lips etc. Also all of them used different signs with help of their hands to help the children understand.

a quick quote from the text

We have shown that deaf children who are not exposed to a usable model of a conventional
language are nevertheless able to create gestures to communicate about motion
events. Even more striking, these children create gestures for all nine of the semantic
elements considered to be central to grammaticizing a motion event without guidance
from a language model.
In addition, we have found that deaf children raised in two very different cultures package
the elements of a motion event in precisely the same ways

Bolded most interesting.

https://goldin-meadow-lab.uchicago.e...2_Zheng_GM.pdf

[Giaodollo]

both.... kinda depends what you mean by language lol

Yeah I am sorry I think i expressed myself badly in the topic and the OP.

[RidonKs]

I was also reading about an experiment from deaf children, four american and four Chinese children all aged 3 to 4 when the experiment took place. They were documented with help of film and the mothers all tried to speak loudly so the children learnt how to read lips etc. Also all of them used different signs with help of their hands to help the children understand.

that's funny that they spoke loudly on purpose. don't you think that might like distort the language sample for the kid if you intentionally exaggerated the shape of your mouth? edit: i just realized the idea behind speaking loudly is exactly to prevent that possibly misleading sort of exaggeration.

there is growing evidence to support a lot of language acquisition occurring way before anything's ever exhibited verbally. the research comes from early onset deaf/blind kids who then, as you say, continue to improve their language abilities using more limited data like lip reading. deaf/blind people also feel faces to help as well which is even harder to use but still possible. you put your thumb on the person's vocal chords and your fingers on their jaw line as they speak.

the language capacity is truly amazing. i've heard it described as one of very few systems in the biological world that operates on discreet infinity. a sentence can literally go on forever without breaking any "rules". though i'm hesitant now to go on, the word "rule" has become controversial. philosophers attempting to implement the research of linguistics in the last 50 years have been accused of taking the academic work out of context in broader application. but i don't know nearly enough about it to elaborate further.

here's an interesting exchange on the subject between chomsky and john searle

In addition, we have found that deaf children raised in two very different cultures package the elements of a motion event in precisely the same ways

what does it mean by "package the elements"? do they use the same gestures to signify the motion event? that would seem like just a wild coincidence. though the fact that the nine motions sync up with the number of grammatical notions of motion (or whatever) is very telling.