While reading The Language Instincts, many things cross my mind. Can we really put a finger on exactly how we conformed to a specific language? Throughout the reading, Pinker goes over multiple theories of how others believe we have conformed to our language. He also emphasizes on his own theory of language and grammar.Before reading The Language Instincts, the thought of how we acquired language and grammar, never crossed my mind. Did we adapt to our surroundings? Is it all biological, or do some believe that God had something to do with it? This book has helped me develop a better understanding of which theory I best relate to. Throughout this paper, I will use Pinker’s The Language Instincts, and a few other books from class to support my
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In chapter four of Language and Learning An Introduction to Teaching, textbook, one key sentence stood out to me. “Training in grammar does not improve a pupil’s composition” (Emmitt, 2010, p.89). Why I feel like this sentence makes a great connection to Steven Pinker’s book, is because he speaks on how it takes so long for babies to begin using grammatical sentences. Kids learn to speak innately and acquire the grammar of the people they are around. You can try and teach children the correct ways to language and grammar, but they also need to learn from themselves. A baby’s brain is not far enough along developed to comprehend every word they hear throughout a day. There is a time process that the brain takes in order for complete development. If you try to speed up or slow down a child’s learning and growing process, you are messing with a natural process almost all bodies go through and could end up damaging the language area of the brain. It takes time for a baby to learn to use grammatical …show more content…
As I understand the biological discoveries that go along with the brain, I do believe the brain is a major key player in our ability to learn languages. The brain guides our instincts that help us learn languages. In chapter 10, we learn that Paul Broca, a French physician, discovered that the left part of the brain played a major role in the production of language. He looked at the brains of people who could not speak and discovered that there was evidence of lesions or damage to this part of the brain. This has been proven to be true multiple times over the years, such that people with known injuries are not able to talk. Also, through tests and procedures, they were able to discover if the two hemispheres of the brain were cut apart, A person could live normal. But when an object was brought into the right side of vision, they could say what it was. When the object was brought into the left side of the brain, they could not say what it was but could use appropriate gestures based on what the object was. This shows that there is an area of the brain connected to language (Pinker,1994,
In chapter four of Language and Learning An Introduction to Teaching, textbook, one key sentence stood out to me. “Training in grammar does not improve a pupil’s composition” (Emmitt, 2010, p.89). Why I feel like this sentence makes a great connection to Steven Pinker’s book, is because he speaks on how it takes so long for babies to begin using grammatical sentences. Kids learn to speak innately and acquire the grammar of the people they are around. You can try and teach children the correct ways to language and grammar, but they also need to learn from themselves. A baby’s brain is not far enough along developed to comprehend every word they hear throughout a day. There is a time process that the brain takes in order for complete development. If you try to speed up or slow down a child’s learning and growing process, you are messing with a natural process almost all bodies go through and could end up damaging the language area of the brain. It takes time for a baby to learn to use grammatical …show more content…
As I understand the biological discoveries that go along with the brain, I do believe the brain is a major key player in our ability to learn languages. The brain guides our instincts that help us learn languages. In chapter 10, we learn that Paul Broca, a French physician, discovered that the left part of the brain played a major role in the production of language. He looked at the brains of people who could not speak and discovered that there was evidence of lesions or damage to this part of the brain. This has been proven to be true multiple times over the years, such that people with known injuries are not able to talk. Also, through tests and procedures, they were able to discover if the two hemispheres of the brain were cut apart, A person could live normal. But when an object was brought into the right side of vision, they could say what it was. When the object was brought into the left side of the brain, they could not say what it was but could use appropriate gestures based on what the object was. This shows that there is an area of the brain connected to language (Pinker,1994,