Abstract

Linguistics today invites us to consider how every human infant picks up the languages of its environment within the first three years of its life, regardless of its genetic or racial roots. Language is acquired during a time of life when the infant is not yet ready to go school for “learning” or an “education,” at a time of life that most of us have no conscious memory of. Walking and talking are human abilities that unfold according to a bioprogram. Child language data are here examined with this larger point in mind.