The Infinite Gift: How Children Learn and Unlearn the Languages of the WorldA child's very first word is a miraculous sound, the opening note in a lifelong symphony. Most parents never forget the moment. But that first word is soon followed by a second and a third, and by the age of three, children are typically learning ten new words every day and speaking in complete sentences. The process seems effortless, and for children, it is. But how exactly does it happen? How do children learn language? And why is it so much harder to do later in life? Drawing on cutting-edge developments in biology, neurology, psychology, and linguistics, Charles Yang's The Infinite Gift takes us inside the astonishingly complex but largely subconscious process by which children learn to talk and to understand the spoken word. Yang illuminates the rich mysteries of language: why French newborns already prefer the sound of French to English; why baby-talk, though often unintelligible, makes perfect linguistic sense; why babies born deaf still babble -- but with their hands; why the grammars of some languages may be evolutionarily stronger than others; and why one of the brain's earliest achievements may in fact be its most complex. Yang also puts forth an exciting new theory. Building on Noam Chomsky's notion of a universal grammar -- the idea that every human being is born with an intuitive grasp of grammar -- Yang argues that we learn our native languages in part by unlearning the grammars of all the rest. This means that the next time you hear a child make a grammatical mistake, it may not be a mistake at all; his or her grammar may be perfectly correct in Chinese or Navajo or ancient Greek. This is the brain's way of testing its options as it searches for the local and thus correct grammar -- and then discards all the wrong ones. And we humans, Yang shows, are not the only creatures who learn this way. In fact, learning by unlearning may be an ancient evolutionary mechanism that runs throughout the animal kingdom. Thus, babies learn to talk in much the same way that birds learn to sing. Enlivened by Yang's experiences with his own young son, The Infinite Gift is as charming as it is challenging, as thoughtful as it is thought-provoking. An absorbing read for parents, educators, and anyone who has ever wondered about the origins of that uniquely human gift: our ability to speak and, just as miraculous, to understand one another. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 38
Page 2
... hand, there is no other animal, however perfect and fortunately circumstanced it may be, which can do the same.4 ... hands. For children learning to speak English, the first words more or less coincide with the first birthday, and ...
... hand, there is no other animal, however perfect and fortunately circumstanced it may be, which can do the same.4 ... hands. For children learning to speak English, the first words more or less coincide with the first birthday, and ...
Page 11
... hand illustrates what the English philosopher David Hume calls “the Scandal of Induction.” It highlights the fallibility of experience when we set out to explore the world—and by extension, language. A plain example: suppose that every ...
... hand illustrates what the English philosopher David Hume calls “the Scandal of Induction.” It highlights the fallibility of experience when we set out to explore the world—and by extension, language. A plain example: suppose that every ...
Page 12
... hand, starts out with no language, and no technological aids, facing a job that is immensely more difficult. But before we talk of language learning we, or rather, the baby, must be clear just what counts as language. Language doesn't ...
... hand, starts out with no language, and no technological aids, facing a job that is immensely more difficult. But before we talk of language learning we, or rather, the baby, must be clear just what counts as language. Language doesn't ...
Page 13
... hand. The variability in speech is a main reason why talking (and listening) machines exist only on Star Trek. For all the advances in computer technology, speech recognition software still doesn't work straight out of the box; it needs ...
... hand. The variability in speech is a main reason why talking (and listening) machines exist only on Star Trek. For all the advances in computer technology, speech recognition software still doesn't work straight out of the box; it needs ...
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Contents
1 | |
11 | |
Silent Rehearsals | 33 |
Wuckoo | 51 |
Word Factory | 73 |
Colorless Green Ideas | 93 |
Twenty Questions | 127 |
The Superiority of the German Language | 175 |
Other editions - View all
The Infinite Gift: How Children Learn and Unlearn the Languages of th Charles Yang No preview available - 2010 |
The Infinite Gift: How Children Learn and Unlearn the Languages of the World Charles Yang No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
acoustic adults American articulatory babbling babies behavior biological brain Cambridge categorical perception Chapter Child Language children learn Chinese Chomsky Cognition COLORLESS GREEN IDEAS complex consonants consonants and vowels Crain Darwin English-speaking environment evolution evolutionary example experience FOXP2 French genes GERMAN LANGUAGE Gleitman guage hear human language infants INFINITE GIFT innate instance Italian Japanese Jusczyk Korean language acquisition language change language learning Latin linguistic means Middle English Milhouse morphology motherese native language natural selection noun phrase Old English parameter parents phonological Pinker Pooh principle pronoun pronunciation prosody psychology rabbit rule Russell sentences Sideshow Bob sounds Spanish speak speakers specific speech speech perception structure suffix syllable talk theory things tion tongue body tongue tip turn TWENTY QUESTIONS universal grammar University Press verb vocal tract vowels Warlpiri Wexler wh-movement word factory word order WUCKOO York
Popular passages
Page 8 - The child who learns a language has in some sense constructed the grammar for himself on the basis of his observation of sentences and nonsentences (ie corrections by the verbal community).