ABSTRACT
<target id="page_172" target-type="page">172</target>Chapter summary
Various criteria for language have been proposed (e.g., semanticity; arbitrariness; displacement; prevarication; productivity). This approach provides a useful description but de-emphasises the cognitive abilities required to produce complex speech.
Children have better receptive than productive language. Productive language starts with one-word utterances followed by the telegraphic period in which the emphasis is on content words.
It used to be believed that children acquire vocabulary before grammar; however, there is now considerable evidence that both are acquired at the same time. There is generally a strong association between the development of vocabulary and grammar, with both depending on genetic factors and on the home literacy environment (e.g., parental reading to children).
Chomsky argued that humans possess a language acquisition device and that there are language universals. Neither assumption is correct, and the world’s languages are much more diverse than Chomsky assumed.
Chomsky argued that children’s linguistic environment was insufficiently rich to permit rapid language acquisition. In fact, however, most children hear a huge amount of spoken language, most of which is tailored to their language needs (i.e., child-directed language).
There is some evidence (e.g., from deaf Nicaraguan children) that children often create a grammar even if exposed to very little grammar. Such evidence apparently supports Chomsky, but may simply show the strong human motivation to communicate.
There is increasing evidence that language acquisition depends heavily on general cognitive processes such as attention, cognitive control, and memory rather than almost entirely on language-specific abilities.
Research on great apes is of relevance to the issue of whether there is something unique and specifically human about language.
Bonobos manage to acquire some aspects of language (e.g., relatively large vocabularies; some communication ability). However, they are only able to communicate simple messages because of their limited cognitive abilities.
