Marc writes: IMO we have what you could call templates for language in
general, but not for a specific language. IOW Russians have the same
templates as Bushmen, though perhaps there are small differences. If a
second language is more difficult, it's because it's learnt at a later
age I think.
Gerry here: The reason I used 1 yr. as the age at which an infant could
begin to learn a second language was because I thought that was
presented as the beginning of "language learning" by some folks on the
list. How about 6 months? Would the native infant still have the
advantage? These edges certainly become fuzzy, don't they?
I think that as we us the term "instincts" to describe the aggregate of
behavioral unconditioned reflexes we may us term "culture" to describe
the aggregate of behavioral conditioned reflexes in human societies.
Language is an element of it. Alexander
Marc: I generally agree with you. We have a lot of instincts, not less
than other mammals. What we tend to learn is the result of what we're
confronted with (our family, school, society...) & of what our brain can
learn. IOW we can't learn anything. There are "empty places" in our
brain that can be filled in, but not everything can placed there.
There are grades of learning. Imprinting is very limited in what can be
filled in, eg, in young animals their mother's face or voice, the
nestplace, their father's & neighbours' song (in birds), the smell of
their siblings, etc., or later in life the features of the partner (in
monogamous species) or of the children. In humans the association areas
in the neocortex are enormously expanded, so that humans can learn a lot
more than most if not all nonhuman animals.
Gerry here: Marc, I agree with you in general and disagree with you
about specifics. That all of us possess a "template" for language in
general I thought was an accepted fact. I would go beyond that point
and claim that the template for the Russian language is a bit more
complex than that for Swahili. I like Alexander's separation of
instinct (unconditioned reflexes) and culture (behavioral instincts).
I'm curious about what you mean by "empty areas in the brain". Are
these areas present in all brains or just a few? Can these areas be
filled or do most of them remain empty?
Gerry
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--
Gerald Reinhart
Independent Scholar
(650) 321-7378
waluk@...
http://www.alekseevmanuscript.com