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Biological foundation of language development
How do individuals acquire and develop language
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Language, which is one of the remarkable properties for human being to be classified as the most complex organism in the world. It is also the most important communication system for human, which is one of the pathways of transitions of our thoughts into signals and convey them back into thoughts. It offers the ability to express an unlimited number of ideas from a person to another. Different grammar structures and usages of words have been found in different cultures, which could be interpreted that language evolves and diversify by our ancestors from a different living environment. According to Pinker’s theory, this is a complex biological adaptation of evolution through natural selection.
The mechanism that makes it possible to transfer
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This is a claim which might seem to be a possible first guess about the evolutionary process of language, and also an alternative view from Darwin’s perspective on human psychological abilities (Pinker, 2015). The language faculty has been divided into two principles, words and grammar, the linkage behind them has been seen as an intensive challenge to discover the ‘magic power’ of language to encode information. In addition, to set up this theory, it is necessary to further prove that language is an adaptation. For example, intelligence, learning, symbol comprehension, and so on do not appear by themselves but a particular mechanism; and it is likely that different mechanisms are needed in different domains such as vision, motor control, understanding the physical and social worlds (Pinker, …show more content…
Different theories were proposed and will be developed to give a definition for human evolution. However, natural selection is the most plausible explanation of the evolution of language currently, as it is the only physical process that can be explained by science nowadays. Therefore, in large extent, the statement of human language faculty is a complex biological adaptation that evolved by natural selection for communication in a knowledge-using, socially interdependent lifestyle is convincing and supported by adequate evidence. The process of evolution of humans is extremely complicated over a long period of time, with the help of improved technology and discoveries nowadays, it is still insufficient to answer all the questions of evolution. Yet, with the continuous development of the knowledge and nonstop edition of theories, the details of language faculty development will become increasingly rigorous and testable. As Pinker’s view, “new genes for language disorders and individual variation in language will be discovered and submitted to tests for a history of selection in the human lineage in the future” (Pinker,
The prehistoric times stand evidence to the power of language as a tool for communication and growth. Language has proven to be an effective medium and factor surrounding the evolution of man. Language has played a big role in the development of individuals and societies. What is spoken and/or written, help in the initiation of imagination, expression of feelings, and conveyance of thoughts and ideas.
The article Is Language the Key to Human Intelligence? , Written by David Premack a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, explains how humans have displayed their intelligence through language, unlike animals whose language, (any) hasn’t evolved at all. Premack uses examples such as grammar and syntax of the human language and explains the uniqueness and evolution of language over time. He claims humans have humans have six symbols system: “two that evolved- the genetic code and spoken language- and four that we invented: written language, Arabic numerals, music notation, and lab notation (a system for coding choreography)”. One word that he puts emphasis time over time is Recursion (“makes it possible for the words in a sentence to be widely separated and yet dependent on one another”); claiming that humans have learned both recursive and non-recursive grammar, while tamarin monkeys failed to learn a recursive grammar. This experiment he states may help to explain why language in animals hasn’t evolved over a period of time. Premack also examined other factors...
While human beings generally consider themselves superior to animals due to our sophisticated use of language, there are several species of animal who use language that includes many properties linguists consider necessary to classify a system of communication as a language. Opinion between linguists varies considerably on what constitutes a language, but generally it is agreed that "A language consists of symbols that convey meaning, plus rules for combining those symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages." (Weiten, 2008, p. 318.) While animal forms of communication may not be at the same level of complexity as human language, evidence shows that several methods of animal communication have many of the same attributes as human language and their methods suit their purposes for finding food, warning each other of predators and assisting in mating rituals. It is flawed reasoning to assume that because human language contains elements that are absent in animal communication that our language is superior to theirs. With this logic one could argue that bats are superior to humans due to their use of sonar locating, which is a biological impossibility for humans. While useful and necessary for bats, sonar is an ability that is not practical for humans and therefore is not a skill that has evolved in the human species. It is more likely that animal language is exactly as complex as is necessary for any given species and will evolve in the same way human language has to support the survival of each specie's specific needs. Nevertheless, several animal species have communication systems that include many of the same elements of human language. Two such animals are the Gunnison's prairie dog and the humpback wha...
Pinker’s valid arguments and strong evidences allow him to convince the readers that our cognitive evolution did exist and participate in a significant role throughout the history. He demonstrates that the current human evolutionary timeline is so imperfect and need to be modified. Evolutionists should wisely choose and incorporate information from different perspectives, so then the full picture of our evolution history to be truly
The following information is a researched paper on the conditions and evolution that made human beings. There of course comes great controversy with this topic. Many scientists and people in general see the human race as completely evolved. The main and simple argument of anti evolution-debaters is that there is no record of humans evolving drastically in recent history. Another common argument is simply why are there still monkeys if we have evolved from them? This paper will provide evidence that proves these assumptions wrong. significant research has been done to show that we are, in fact, still evolving.
Sabbatini (2001), the human intelligence is defined as the key to a trove of understanding about ourselves, and how natural selection could produce such a marvel as the human brain and its capacities in such a short time (Renato M.E Sabbatini, 2001). The evolution of human intelligence is considerable as a mystery matter because the process of evolution is very difficult to be observed directly in the paleontological record such as blood, teeth or bond. Moreover, the evidence that scientists used to determine the evolution of human intelligence is the indirectly from the observation of the increase in the size of cranial capacity and also the action of result of human intelligence such as knowing how to use stone tools and be cooperative to hunt and war, the use of fire to cook, art and ritual and few other things. Furthermore, the article argued that the intelligence is not unique to humans. This is because current scientific view show that there are different level of complexity of intelligence also present in mammals and human share many features with animals which we were though it is only unique to human. In fact, it is not, such as symbolic language which has been determined it happened in
According to American linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky, “some random mutation took place, maybe after some strange cosmic ray shower, and it reorganized the brain, implanting a language organ in an otherwise primate brain.” According to the researches Steven Pinker and Paul Bloom theory, a series of calls or gestures evolved over time into combinations, giving us complex communication, or language. As things became more complicated around them, humans needed a more complex system to convey information to one another. For example, early man sees a group of deer he wants to hunt. He grunts a sound to his hunting partner that means "deer are nearby." One day, a storm comes in and the hunter notices that thunder scares the deer away. As a
The purpose of this paper to examine the evolution of the human brain that distinguishes them from other species based on the traits that humans possess: such as language, emotional complexity and consciousness. The significance of traits are due to adaptations in humans to promote the survival of our ancestors. Professor Hamilton (2012) discusses that the evolution of the human brain starts with the idea of the Triune brain, proposed by MacLean, whereby the human brain is made up of three parts: Reptilian, Paleo-mammalian, and Neo-mammalian. Animals with the neo-mammalian brain have a more complex brain compared to the other parts, since this is where the neocortex evolved. Humans essentially have this higher brain function which is responsible for our ability to think, make decisions, promote agency, and the ability to relate with each other. This concept fits into the evolutionary process since it shows how the complex the brain has become through evolutionary processes. In essence, as humans, we “have a rich, evidence-based understanding of our behavior that can lead us to plan to be ‘better’ or ‘more successful’ people” according to Professor Hamilton (2012). Thus, shows how evolution plays a significance in understanding human behavior and comparing humans with other species.
Communication functions delivering idea and thought from one person to another. There are various categories of communication such as verbal, non-verbal, written, and visualization. All kinds of organisms communicate with each other. Animal communicates each other through a howl and gesture, and even plant communicates each other. However, human is the only species that use symbolic communication system which is a language. Human uses language to express their thought and culture. Human language systems formed by rules and structures. Among those rules and structures, morphology is the study of word structure and word-formation. Without of system of morphology human language is not useful tool. Thus purpose of the research is to
Language acquisition is perhaps one of the most debated issues of human development. Various theories and approaches have emerged over the years to study and analyse this developmental process. One factor contributing to the differing theories is the debate between nature v’s nurture. A question commonly asked is: Do humans a...
Language is known as the intricate and complex structure consisting of a body of words that expresses thoughts and feelings. Nobody knows indefinitely how language started, However, many theories have been observed including: God’s gift to mankind, The monogenetic theory, the bow-wow theory, and grunting. Billions of words were spoken before any were written. Language history has changed overtime from starting with pictograms and Ideograms which were pictures and symbols drawn over 20,000 years ago, to the Alphabet created by the ancient Greeks to represent sound units. Today, English has developed to over seventy-five different countries and has 400 million people speaking the English language today.
According to Linguistic Nativists, humans have a sort of natural endowment that makes the human brain very well suited to acquire language. This gives a structure, which can be pictured much like a skeleton, to the brain. The skeleton gives it a form, from which task-specific parts arise. For example, human fingers allow a person to pick up objects; however, a human wouldn’t use his or her hand to chew food, since hands aren’t very adept for that task.
In Being Human by Richard Gross, one of the most common claims for human exceptionalism is language. Human language has surpassed any kind of communicative behavior carried on by other species. The power of spoken language is what makes us humans and what differs us from other living organisms. The complexity of human language involves learning the components of symbolic elements certainly not learned in other species’ communication systems. Non-human brains are simply not structured to develop language like humans do. Their brains lack abstract thinking and understanding of symbols. The language in humans has unique characteristics that mature and develop distinctly from other species.
Language is a part of our everyday lives, and we can describe the meaning of language in many ways. As suggested in Gee and Hayes (2011, p.6 ) people can view language as something in our minds or something existing in our world in the form of speech, audio recordings, and writings or we can view language as a way of communicating with a group of people. Language can be used to express our emotions, make sense of our mental and abstract thoughts and assists us in communicating with others around us. Language is of vital importance for children to enable them to succeed in school and everyday life. Everyone uses both oral and written language. Language developed as a common ability amongst human beings with the change
Still today, it is the commonly held belief that children acquire their mother tongue through imitation of the parents, caregivers or the people in their environment. Linguists too had the same conviction until 1957, when a then relatively unknown man, A. Noam Chomsky, propounded his theory that the capacity to acquire language is in fact innate. This revolutionized the study of language acquisition, and after a brief period of controversy upon the publication of his book, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, in 1964, his theories are now generally accepted as largely true. As a consequence, he was responsible for the emergence of a new field during the 1960s, Developmental Psycholinguistics, which deals with children’s first language acquisition. He was not the first to question our hitherto mute acceptance of a debatable concept – long before, Plato wondered how children could possibly acquire so complex a skill as language with so little experience of life. Experiments have clearly identified an ability to discern syntactical nuances in very young infants, although they are still at the pre-linguistic stage. Children of three, however, are able to manipulate very complicated syntactical sentences, although they are unable to tie their own shoelaces, for example. Indeed, language is not a skill such as many others, like learning to drive or perform mathematical operations – it cannot be taught as such in these early stages. Rather, it is the acquisition of language which fascinates linguists today, and how it is possible. Noam Chomsky turned the world’s eyes to this enigmatic question at a time when it was assumed to have a deceptively simple explanation.