ENG509 Objective

➢ If an animal is innately programmed for some type of behaviour, then there are likely to be biological clues. (Mean something innate that is responsible for some particular behaviour, in linguistics we are searching for some innate thing which is responsible for language speaking)

➢ Fish have bodies which are streamlined and smooth, with fins and a powerful tail structurally adapted for moving fast through the water. (Body structure and physical behaviour of fish have

resemblance)

➢ Biological clues are not essential. It is impossible to guess their behaviour from their bodies solely. (But these biological clues have some relevance)

➢ Birds make nests, and, sometimes, animals behave in a way quite contrary to what might be expected from their physical form.

➢ Changes in the form of the body or structural changes are the most direct indications of innate programming.

➢ Physiological adaptations include changes in the bodily functions, such as rate of heartbeat and breathing.

➢ If we look at the organs used in speech, humans seem to be somewhere in the middle between the obvious structural adaptation of birds to flying, and the apparent lack of correlation between birds and nest building.

➢ The human brain and vocal tract have a number of slightly unusual features which can not indicate sufficiently that people can talk. (Can be assumed by some analysis)

➢ If we assume that all humans speak a language, then biological facts can be viewed as partial adaptations of the body to the production of language.

➢ Another important difference between humans and monkeys concerns the larynx, which contains the ‘voice box’ or ‘vocal cords simpler in structure than that of other primates.

➢ This is an advantage as air can move freely past and then out through the nose and mouth without being hindered by other appendages. (As we have studied that human children and chimpanzees have same larynx so that they can drink and breathe together i.e. an infant sucking her mother)

➢ Human brain is very different in appearance from that of other animals. ➢ Human brain is heavier than animals

➢ Human brain with more surface folding of the cortex, outer layer of ‘grey matter’ which surrounds the inner core of nerve fibres.

➢ In human brain, though grey matter is actually pink in live humans, it goes grey after death.

➢ Superficially, the brains of a chimp and a human have certain similarities.

➢ Language emerges at about the same time in children all over the world.

➢ Children normally begin to speak between their eighteenth and twenty-eighth months.

➢ It is suggested that language may be set in motion by a biological clock, similar to the one which causes kittens to open their eyes when they are a few days old.

➢ Behaviour that is triggered off biologically has a number of special characteristics.

➢ If it can be shown that speech, like sexual activities and the ability to walk, falls into the category of biologically scheduled behaviour.

➢ The behaviour emerges before it is necessary

➢ Appearance of behaviour is not the result of a conscious decision.

➢ Emergence of behaviour is not triggered by external events (though the surrounding environment must be sufficiently ‘rich’ for it to develop adequately).

➢ There is a regular sequence of ‘milestones’ as the behaviour develops, and these can usually be correlated with age and other aspects of development.

➢ There may be a ‘critical period’ for the acquisition of the behaviour.

➢ Although children differ enormously in their ability to knit or play the violin, their language proficiency varies to a much lesser extent.

➢ Children acquire language without making any conscious decision about it. ➢ Children begin to talk even when their surroundings remain unchanged.

➢ Most of them live in the same house, eat the same food, have the same parents, and follow the same routine. No specific event or feature in their surroundings suddenly starts them off talking.

➢ Children do not manufacture any new brain cells after birth.

➢ They are born with millions, perhaps billions. At first the cells are not all interconnected, and the brain is relatively light (about 300g).

➢ From birth to around 2 years, many more cells interconnect, and brain weight increases rapidly. By the age of 2, it weighs nearly 1000g (Lenneberg1967).

➢ Although no external event causes the behaviour, the surrounding environment must be sufficiently ‘rich ‘for it to develop adequately.

➢ In activities such as typing or playing tennis, a person’s achievement is often directly related to the amount of teaching they receive and the hours of practice they put in. Not ‘naturally’ superb athletes can win.

➢ We may conclude, then, that mere practice – in the sense of direct repetition and imitation – does not affect the acquisition of language in a significant way

Child’s likely progress chart

Language stage Beginning age

Crying Cooing Babbling Intonation patterns One-word utterances Two-word utterances Word inflection Questions, negatives Rare or complex constructions Mature speech Birth 6 weeks 6 months 8 months 1 year 18 months 2 years 2 1/4 years 5 years 10 years