Re: sensitive period in language acquisition?

From: Gerry Reinhart-Waller
Message: 879
Date: 2000-01-12

Marc:
Some believe the fetus in utero already becomes accustomed to its
mother's sounds. Since about 3 months of age there are "dialogs" between
mother & child. But the first "words" appear at ca.1 year. This may be
called language already. What do you mean by template? Of course we
have brains that easily learn language (or better: speech -- chimps can
perhaps learn some sort of ASL but not to speak).

By template I mean a predesign or a map that assists the infant in
learning his/her native tongue. I don't know how to scientifically
prove this notion, but I do know that a native born speaker learns his
native language with facility while a child age 1 or so would experience
some difficulty in learning the same language as a second language. My
question is why does this occur.
Gerry
--








































Gerald Reinhart
Independent Scholar
(650) 321-7378
waluk@...
http://www.alekseevmanuscript.com