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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