I think we need to be very careful not to minimize language when we talk 
about how it is acquired. There is not merely a one-to-one 
correspondence between a word and a “thing” in the world (or, in the 
case of “steep”, a quality.) It’s hard to imagine moving your arms in 
such a way as to show /belief/ or /hope/ or /I’m sorry/ or /true/ or 
/justice/ or to differentiate “mild threat” from “admonition”. It’s hard 
to act out how “steep” can gather so many metaphoric extensions. 
Language is used in complex ways to interact with other language users, 
and there are resources in the language which allow that to happen. 
There are also resources that allow us to accomplish work that requires 
much more than a word or even a single sentence, resources that allow us 
to carry out more extended and complex purposes in the forms of extended 
talk or text.
Much language may be available to us unconsciously, but that does not 
mean it was unconsciously or “passively” acquired. Usage-based 
(cognitive functional) approaches (see especially Tomasello, 
“Constructing a Language”, Harvard, 2003) posit two aspects of human 
cognition that make the acquisition of language possible. One is 
“intention reading” (recognizing other minds); the other is 
“pattern-finding.” It is possible to look at grammar as a set of 
functional patterns that have grown up through the dynamics of use, 
adding their own meaning to constructions (and not merely acting as 
passive conveyors.) In addition to the core grammar, we have so much 
meaning at the periphery, so many constructs that follow meaning-making 
patterns of less generality. Looked at this way, there is no clear gap 
between child and adult patterns of learning and no huge gap between 
syntax and lexicon, between the words and their grammatical relations. 
In other words, we don’t simply acquire grammar as children and then use 
it as adults, but acquire it throughout a lifetime, using the same 
cognitive tools.
If this is the case, then we have a much bigger case for making language 
itself a core area of inquiry within schooling, not simply a set of 
“rules” that must be followed, but a body of knowledge that might be 
passed on to help all of us be more purposeful in our language lives.

Craig

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