From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 890
Date: 2000-01-13
----- Original Message -----From: Alexander StolbovSent: Thursday, January 13, 2000 11:17 AMSubject: [cybalist] Re: sensitive period in language acquisition?
Alexander wrote:Hi Brent, I agree in general with all you have said. The only thing I'd like to comment is the statement that people have no instincts but "a fear of heights, and quick sounds". In my opinion we have inherited almost all the instincts which mammals have. How do men behave in the presence of a pretty girl (no matter what are their age, marriage status and probability to establish romantic relations)? What does a man feel when suddenly know that this child is his (even if absolutely no additional care is needed)? Is there a big difference between hierarchy in a group of baboons and of prisoners (I mean Russian jails)? The number of examples can be multiplied.
In some situations complex instinctive behaviours are activated notwithstanding our conditioned reflexes or consciously acquired cultural patterns. Any woman who gives birth to and then feeds and tends her child is driven as much by her instincts as by other forces (and, presumably, the more so, the better). Language-specific conventions are of course transmitted EXCLUSIVELY by cultural means, but the impulse to communicate with the environment -- to work out and internalise the code used by the surrounding speech community -- is no doubt instinctive in infants.Piotr