Mother Tongue Hardware

From: Julian Lord <julian.lord_at_hol.fr>
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 14:42:43 +0200


Chris Holden:

> Language acquisition is also relevant. Children just pick up a language spoken
> around/to them. In fact it appears that language acquisition is 'hardwired'
> into the brain, and with a lot of the basics (not a dictionary, but a tool kit
> to understand grammar) are already built in.

Well the version of theory I heard neatly sidesteps the whole question of children having some form of instinctive basis for language, ie embryos learn these basics inside their mother's womb. It also goes part way towards explaining why one always uses one's Mother Tongue much better than any other language, no matter HOW good one is at it.

The hardwiring, then, exists, but it is cultural in nature, rather than instinctive. because the sounds that the embryo hears are the sounds of its mother's culture and language. Trolls, also, have better hearing than humans. They can then learn their mother tongue, as embryos, more efficiently than Men.

Similar, and probably even more efficient, hardwiring via Mostali Earthsense (part of the manufacturing process inside the clay pots).

Aldryami must get their innate linguistic skills from some other source, though ...


End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #20


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