PSY274H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Foxp2, Creole Language, Executive Functions
Document Summary
Acquiring language begins in the womb for hearing fetuses, and our accessible memories don"t go back that far. A common misconception: children need to be taught language. Children don"t need to be taught language in an explicit and conscious way: there are language communities in which no conscious language teaching occurs, but language acquisition proceeds normally ex. Somoa: conscious language teaching is not necessary for first language acquisition. Most children, although not overtly corrected by their parents when they make linguistic mistakes, are exposed to a tremendous amount of language modeling. Most children do a lot of mimicry as part of the process of acquiring language. Overt teaching is not necessary, and mimicry is not sufficient. Members of a british family who exhibited an inherited and rare language disorder were studied. When another child (not related) was found who exhibited the same severe disorder, a gene called foxp2 was discovered (in 2001).
