Language Learning: DeShan

The learning of a language is done through a person’s biological composition and through their cultural surroundings.


“They know that it is man’s most important cultural invention, the quintessential example of his capacity to use symbols and a biologically unprecedented event irrevocably separating him from other animals. (Pinker, instinct 17)”

“it is a distinct piece of the biological makeup of our brains. (Pinker, instinct 18)”

“some cognitive scientists have described language as a psychological faculty, a mental organ, a neural system, and a computational module. But I prefer the admittedly quaint term “instinct.” (Pinker, instinct 18)”


Justin DeShan