Play the language game

I think Dr. Smidt was right about the videos that we are watch for the recent three weeks. They are fun and informative. I enjoyed the first two sections at least. Some thoughts popped up in my head after watching the part of “Playing the Language Game”.

At the very beginning of the semester, we had a discussion about if we acquired our language or we learned our language. If my memory serves, it may be proper to say “We acquire our L1, and we may try to learn a L2.” A person who learns a L2 may not able to acquire it, but it is not often for a person to fail to acquire his/her L1.

However, how do children acquire language? It seems that they do it without seeming to learn it? Why can a 3 year-old child speak kind of complicated language but can’t tie their shoes? Obviously, few parents would teach their kids grammar, like syntax when they are at that young age. But they can make correct sentences with the words they know; even they know the 3rd person singular forms of verbs? How do they get that? I agree with the linguists in the video---language is not acquired by imitating. But, is that because they were equipped that in their mind when they were born like the birds can fly without being taught? Or their innate knowledge interacts with the environment that they are in and help them produce new knowledge, as the analogy example in the video? Maybe. Children may do have a system of knowledge they were born with; this system interact with the environment that they are immersed; then, they become able to create the sentences they’ve never heard before. Gradually, their language ability grows and they would eventually acquire it.