Linguistic Ability

Essay # 59376

Anthropology > Cultural
Communication > Language and Speech
Linguistics

Linguistic Ability

Examining the roots of humans' linguistic ability.

1,503 words () | 8 sources | MLA | 2005

Paper Summary:

Through an analysis of the language acquisition process and a brief review of experiments designed to teach chimpanzees complicated linguistic communication, this essay argues that language ability is both environmental and biological.

From the Paper:

"At least the majority of us take our speech and linguistic abilities for granted. We rarely pause to consider why it is that man has the ability or capacity for complicated linguistic communication while other creatures, even those that most resemble human beings, do not. If the majority of us have not considered this question, a minority have. These are the anthropologists, the linguist and the psychologist. These three groups of academic researchers have examined the question of man's ability for complicated linguistic communication versus the inability of other creatures and have arrived at two different conclusions. Some have argued that the human ability for linguistic communication is a consequence of their having a unique biological ability for languages learning and communication. Others disagree, insisting that it is not a consequence of any inherent ability but of environmental training. As one tries to evaluate which of these points of views, or theories is the more accurate, on finds that evidence points in both directions, leading one to conclude that the unique human ability for languages is both biological and environmental in nature."