ABSTRACT
This chapter presents evidence that languages are grounded in the body, starting with an overview of how the whole body–mind of the human being is needed to learn a language. Only severe disability and/or abuse can prevent infants from learning the language(s) of their immediate community. The same cannot be said of people learning languages later in life: Those who emigrate to another country in adulthood often “sound foreign” despite being immersed in another language for most of their lives. This chapter explains why this happens using the 4E model.
