If no language is taught to infants, can they communicate when they get old?

Question

If not, then how come birds & animals off springs are able to communicate although they are not taught by there parents. Can humans off springs can learn like them ?

Answer 1

They can communicate, but not verbally. There was an abused child found 5 yrs or so ago- the parents kept her chained in the basement for 12 yrs- she did not have any language skills whatsoever, and even after 4 yrs (I saw an update story last year) of teaching her the human language, her vocal chords still couldn't make the same sounds.


Animals (including humans) learn by watching their parent's behaviors, unless it is geneticly in them. Baby birds learn songs from their parents- the same way parrots learn words from an owner- they are trying to sound like the rest of their flock. Predators learn what and what not to eat by watching their parents. If you do not give a predator something in it's first year or so of live, chances are they will not see it as food (it may be a play toy, but not a meal)

Answer 2

where did you get the idea that animal parents don't teach their young? just because they don't do it like people do doesn't mean it doesn't happen. human babies need interaction and they learn very much by copying what the caregivers do, so a child that is capable of speech, if raised by mute parents will probably not learn spoken language. they could try to be taught, but if you don't do it early enough then the child loses the ability to learn that skill.

it is a very complicated thing. and there are many factors working in this situation. it would be hard to completely isolate a child to do a true experiment, it would also be completely unethical to subject another human to the situation needed to truly test this kind of thing.

Answer 3

Humans without language would still have some basic communication ability such as facial expressions, gestures, and body language. This is enough for other animals, but humans have an innate need for language. They have the ability to think abstractly, and they have poor sense of smell. Sign language can work as well as vocal language, but without language a human's abilities are limited.

Answer 4

It would be a major challenge.

There was once a cruel experiment performed, in which nobody spoke to the babies involved. That was bad enough, but they received little to no emotional nurturing and most (if not all) died, although their physical needs were met.

So, if there was nurturing but no spoken language, an individual would theoretically retain to some extent the capacity to learn although it would be severely compromised.

Answer 5

There are more than one way to communicate without language. There are facial expression, body posture, and many more.
Check out the library chances are that they'll have something

Answer 6

Well animals have instincts that we as humans don't. So to answer your question, no (well not in a language that we would be able to understand).

Answer 7

If they have parents,then how could they possibly not learn SOMETHING, even,if it's wrong! Unless,the parents don't talk either. ...Sounds like a lotta whining and crying going on.

Children inevitably learn from others by looking and listening.

Are you hoping your parents will teach you to speak? ...OR to teach you to reason???

Answer 8

for other animals it might be instincts, but for some like humans they listen to the same species as them and imitate sounds like a human baby will listen to its parents talk and it'll try to imitate them and memorize them.