how does language come to be known ? is the capacity to acquire language innate?

Answer 1

The capacity to learn language is innate. But the actual language that is learned is not innate. The language that is learned is based on the input to the child. A child with no linguistic input still has the capacity, but since there is no input, there is no language learned.

Answer 2

Are you talking about languages that we learn as children (native languages) or languages that we learn later (second languages)?

It seems most apparent to linguists that children are basically "hardwired" for language. That is, every child that grows up with normal exposure to one or more languages will learn to understand and speak those languages just like any other native speaker. The only people for whom this doesn't happen are people who are either horribly abused and neglected (like the famous Genie) or sometimes deaf children of hearing parents who don't get exposure to any language at all. So it appears that, yes, children have an innate ability to acquire language. How exactly this happens is still a question under lots of research and investigation in linguistics. I really can't go into detail here just for the fact that there is so much information on that subject, but if you are interested you should definitely take a course on Child Language Acquisition.

As far as learning second languages, it appears that basically everyone has some ability to acquire new languages, although we obviously do so at different rates and to different degrees of proficiency.

P.S. Interestingly enough, there is still controversy in the field of linguistics about whether there is a critical period for acquiring langugage. That really is a wide-open question that some people get quite excited about.

Answer 3

There are many theories, but it seems the capacity to acquire language may be innate, but without the input as someone else said language won't be acquired. Meaning, we are born with the capacity to acquire it, but if we are deprived of the stimuli, if we don't hear it, then we won't acquire it. Also, it has been said that there's a critical period for acquiring it (I think it's about twelve or ten years old). After that it's said that we don't learn it as well as we had learned it before that age. There are two stories about children (one boy named Victor who was found in the wild and the other one a girl named Genie who had been abused/deprived) that somehow prove the point.

You can find the stories here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2112gchild.html

Hope it helps.

Answer 4

FIrst language aqcuisition is innate- and grammar is innate! (Read anything by Chomsky!)

For example, children who were born into trade communities (between two tribes, nations, etc that spoke two different languages) who spoke a pidgen (a hybrid kind of sort of like REALLY bad Spanglish), gave that pidgen grammar since they spoke it from such an early age- and that becomes a creole.

Children have the capacity to acquire any speech sound into their native language sound inventory as long as they are exposed to it as infants. Japanese speakers cannot tell the difference between /r/ and /l/- but a Japanese infant could.

So, as long as you have an input (language) your brain works out all the quirks that are what we know as grammar and lexicon and produces speech (or sign - which also has grammar).

Answer 5

According to Chomsky the ability to learn a language is innate. Just like the ability for bees to indicate to one another a path, humans have the special ability to learn language.
One difference is that like with spiders; no one teaches them how to build a web. They just know. With humans we do have to be taught language in the form of input. Language is mimicked. No other species has this ability. They are not born with it and cannot develop it.
The ability to learn a language is innate; but the language that we learn depends on the parents that we have and the input that we receive.

Answer 6

i think it's still being debated. last time i had a linguistics class, tho, i learned about the "tabula rasa" or blank slate theory, but this is in opposition to other theories such as "connectionism" just do a computer search on those terms and that will help. also read noam chomsky, and some other writers, and i remember a book entitled "The Language Instinct" that was quite good. From anectdotal evidence, the best way for anyone to learn a language or another language is by immersion.

Answer 7

Yes, many of the above pals gave you a very elaborate answer. Definitely the capacity to learn language is innate.
Have a nice day!