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Stacy Rodriguez Dr. Gershkoff Essay #3 12 April 2013

Babies are born to be geniuses Although, critics argue that Babies are not born to be geniuses, or in other words, incapable of language; this can be argued that babies do have the abilities to recognize more complicated aspects of language than old people can. Babies have the abilities to know and recognize things that humans are incapable of recognizing; therefore, this would imply that they are mini geniuses. Yet, the ability in determining whether or not the reason why babies have these abilities can be argued through the controversy of nature vs. nurture. In the article An Instinct to Acquire an Act, Pinker argues that having the ability to even make noises is a form of language. Yet he disagrees with Chomsky theory that language come from nature. Pinker states, Why should anyone believe that human language is part of human biologyand instinctat all, refuting that language is neither innate nor hereditary but is a product of the environment. Whereas, Chomsky agrees with nature, he argues that language is innate. Furthermore, Chomsky believes that language is its own faculty. Besides Chomskys reference to a language faculty involving the mental organ, language is also defined as instinct from the prospective of Pinker. In other words, language is wired into the human brain through biological evolution. Chomsky theory relies on biological mechanisms that are encoded in the genes. However, if language was innate; then in the case of Genie, a child who was derived of the exposure to language, would have developed language more naturally. Yet, Genies form of

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language was produced by sounds and forms of multiple unique habits such as growing and very animal like acts. Also, even though she understood the meaning of words she was unable to express herself by actually speaking out loud due to not enough exposure to the language. Therefore, understanding language as being a form of nurture would be deemed more appropriate in the case of Genie. Allegations and assumptions were made that the reason why Genie did not learn how to speak is because of the environment she was living in. This implies that language comes from nurture, right? Yet, in the article The Articulate Mammal, Atchison explains that Chomsky theory complicates the idea of language. Chomsky argues that a person does not need to know words to understand language. This is because language is more complex than just having the ability to say words. Someone can be speaking clearing yet have trouble understanding the words they say. For example, when one reads a novel and they are simply reading the words on the page but not understanding what is going on in the book, would we argue that this person knows language? Maybe, but Chomsky argued that language is deeper than what is on the surface. This leaves the question must language be innate? Are babies really born geniuses? In the article Child Language, Saxton explains that the reason why Genie did not have language is because she was isolated and she did not receive exposure to language. This complicates Chomskys theory because if Genie was not exposed to language then how did she naturally make these noises if she did not learn it? Saxton argued that she did not learn any language, but this statement would be inaccurate because she made growling noises and she understood a handful of words which included: walk, go, red, blue, green. However, these words were learned by her mother who when she could would try to speak to her. This would lean towards nurture if this were true.

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Babies are born to be geniuses, this is because they are able to visualize, recognize, memorize, and understand many words at a young age. However, this skill is only developed if the child is exposed to language immediately. The definition of language is complicated because some people define language as being able to speak while other interprets language as understanding. Chomsky seems to argue that language is more of understanding the words than speaking them. I believe that language is being able to projected words as well as understanding them. This does not mean that I disagree that babies are not geniuses! Although, babies are unable to speak right away, they are able to do other abilities such as listen, understand words, and like a sponge they soak up so much knowledge. Also, because they soak up so much knowledge babies are able to learn different languages whereas an older person will have trouble learning. Furthermore, even though babies have these abilities, they are not developed unless they are exposed by it in their environment, which is why I argue that language is formulated through the nurture aspect.