Reading Practice 10

[1] Language is one of humanity’s most important capabilities and is also one of the most neglected fields of study. This is due to the scientific community’s long-held beliefs and attitudes regarding the origins of language. The greatest challenge in studying the origins of language is simply the lack of empirical evidence. As a consequence, researchers and academics are restricted to inferences based on other areas of study. For example, when making comparisons between human and other animal communication, researchers refer to fossil records and even archaeology. Moreover, theories on the evolution of language and its origins are characterized by contrasting ideas and speculation.

 

[2] A lack of empirical evidence regarding the origins and evolution of language is the first and oldest barrier in this field of study. As early as 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris debate and discussion on this area was forbidden. Thus, studies in these areas were unrecognized and shunned. It wasn’t until the late 20th century when language studies began to take off again with renewed vigor and by the 1990s, linguists took on the “hardest problem in science.” Not only linguists but also archaeologists, anthropologists, and psychologists have entered the fray of discussion on the origin of language with diverse theories and methods.

 

[3] One of the key areas that are studied by those exploring the evolution and origins of language is how infants and children acquire their first language. First language acquisition encompassingly involves study in psycholinguistics, social anthropology, phonetics, and even genetics. The ability to acquire language is said to start in the womb. A fetus can listen and interpret the speech patterns and sounds of its mother. By four months, babies can hear individual sounds and they begin to babble – the exploration of speech sounds. A hearing-impaired baby exposed to sign language will also babble with gestures the same way another baby babbles with sounds. As a consequence, scientists tend to believe that the need to communicate through language is an innate human trait, but geneticists aren’t convinced of this point.

 

[4] Evolutionary biologists remain sceptical that language knowledge is conveyed through human genes. The debate regarding language acquisition is fierce and centres on a 50-year-old idea proposed by Noam Chomsky known as “Universal Grammar.” Chomsky’s idea states that babies are born with an innate ability to learn language, specifically a ‘language acquisition device.’ Babies transform language to its simplest form and build from there. Opponents of this theory argue that language is learned through a baby’s interaction with other communicators.

 

[5] This ever-evolving field symbolizes the nature of evolution itself: an on-going development and progression of growth. The challenge of breaking down the history, science, and evidence regarding this dynamic field continues to attract the academic community. Clues exist, but the smallest of details rarely sheds light on the greater picture of language. In spite of language seeming like a perfect study for evolution due to its nature as being learned and replicated, subject to mutation, and that aspects of language can be selected against, the truth is the complexity goes beyond even that of evolution. Thus, science’s “hardest question” continues to challenge the brightest minds in academia and there is still no consensus to date.