CAI - Language Lesson

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Language

Language is the most tangible indication of our thinking power and one of the most amazing of all our cognitive abilities. When we use language, we combine arbitrary symbols to produce meaningful statements. American linguist Noam Chomsky called it our "human essence." It is what sets us above all others and allows us to share and express meaningful information.

Language acquisition refers to the process by which humans learn or acquire language and the ability to both produce and comprehend words and sentences to communicate. There are three stages in which humans from every culture learn language.

Learn more about the stages of language:

In rare cases, children are not exposed to language at a young age. Sometimes the children are kept isolated by abusive parents and sometimes the children were abandoned and lived alone or with animals. Scientists have discovered that these children, if found after a certain age, are unable to learn language as completely as someone who was exposed to language at an earlier age. Thus, there is a critical period for language acquisition that ends sometime between age five and puberty.

Theorists do not agree about exactly why and how language development occurs. Three well-known theories explain the acquisition of language in different ways.

Language Theories: Chomsky's Nativist Theory - Chomsky proposes that humans learn language so quickly that their brains must be pre-wired for language acquisition. He calls this prewiring the language acquisition device. Skinner's Social Learning Theory - Skinner says that children learn language through observation of their parents and that parents reinforce children's language acquisition by rewarding them with attention when they imitate the parent's language. Whorf's Theory of Linguistic Determinism - Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think. He says that if we don't have a word for something, we can't think about it.

Language Theories:

  1. Chomsky's Nativist Theory - Chomsky proposes that humans learn the language so quickly that their brains must be pre-wired for language acquisition. He calls this prewiring the language acquisition device.
  2. Skinner's Social Learning Theory - Skinner says that children learn language through observation of their parents and that parents reinforce children's language acquisition by rewarding them with attention when they imitate the parent's language.
  3. Whorf's Theory of Linguistic Determinism - Whorf's hypothesis is that language determines the way we think. He says that if we don't have a word for something, we can't think about it.

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