Human Language

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, despite the ubiquity of human linguistic ability, pinning down exactly how language helps people and how people use it is not at all a straightforward task. The author points out that Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky examined how children acquire language and the relationship of thinking and language learning. The paper relates that the comparisons of bilingual and monolingual children, as well as comparisons of bilingual children of varying levels of development, indicate that bilingualism can lead to superior performance on a variety of intellectual skills.

From the Paper:

"It is clear that normal children acquire a language that reflects their particular linguistic environment. A child brought up in Japan acquires a version of Japanese. The same child brought up in Brazil acquires a version of Portuguese. So, these languages must in some sense reflect some of the same underlying innate principles. Languages are basically the same in structure, up to certain parameters, for example, whether the head of a phrase goes at the beginning of a phrase or at the end. Children do not have to learn the basic principles; they only need to set the parameters."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Chandler, D. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/whorf.html
• Rossi-Landi, F. 1983. Language As A Work & Trade Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey Publishers, Inc
• J. Piaget, Play, dreams and imitation in childhood, New York: Norton.
• Vygotsky, L.S.1972. Thought and Words, in P. Adams (Ed.), Language in Thinking. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd., 186-187.
• Fodor, J. 1980. Language of Thought. Harvard University Press

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