?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=THE+CHILD+AND+THE+WORLD%3A+How+Children+acquire+Language&rft.creator=Allott%2C+Robin&rft.subject=Neurolinguistics&rft.subject=Evolution&rft.subject=Comparative+Linguistics&rft.description=HOW+CHILDREN+ACQUIRE+LANGUAGE+%0A%0AOver+the+last+few+decades+research+into+child+language+acquisition+has+been+revolutionized+by+the+use+of+ingenious+new+techniques+which+allow+one+to+investigate+what+in+fact+infants+(that+is+children+not+yet+able+to+speak)+can+perceive+when+exposed+to+a+stream+of+speech+sound%2C+the%0Adiscriminations+they+can+make+between+different+speech+sounds%2C+differentspeech+sound+sequences+and+different+words.+However+on+the+central+features+of+the+mystery%2C+the+extraordinarily+rapid+acquisition+of+lexicon+and+complex+syntactic+structures%2C+little+solid+progress+has+been+made.+The+questions+being+researched+are+how+infants+acquire+and+produce+the+speech+sounds+(phonemes)+of+the+community+language%3B+how+infants+find+words+in+the+stream+of+speech%3B+and+how+they+link+words+to+perceived+objects+or+action%2C+that+is%2C+discover+meanings.+In+a+recent+general+review+in+Nature+of+children's+language+acquisition%2C+Patricia+Kuhl+also+asked+why+we+do+not+learn+new+languages+as+easily+at+50+as+at+5+and+why+computers+have+not+cracked+the+human+linguistic+code.+The+motor+theory+of+language+function+and+origin+makes+possible+a+plausible+account++of+child+language+acquisition+generally+from+which+answers+can+be+derived+also+to++these+further+questions.+Why+computers+so+far+have+been+unable+to+'crack'+the+language+problem+becomes+apparent+in+the+light+of+the+motor+theory+account%3A+computers+can+have+no+natural+relation+between+words+and+their+meanings%3B+they+have+no++conceptual+store+to+which+the%0Anetwork+of+words+is+linked+nor+do+they+have+the+innate+aspects+of+language+functioning+-+represented+by+function+words%3B+computers+have+no+direct+links+between+speech+sounds+and+movement+patterns+and+they+do+not+have+the+instantly+integrated+neural+patterning+underlying+thought+-+they+necessarily+operate+serially+and+hierarchically.+Adults+find+the+acquisition+of+a+new+language+much+more+difficult+than+children+do+because+they+are+already+neurally+committed+to+the+link+between+the+words+of+their+first+language+and+the+elements+in+their+conceptual+store.+A+second+language+being+acquired+by+an+adult+is+in+direct%0Acompetition+for+neural+space+with+the+network+structures+established+for+the+first+language.%0A&rft.publisher=Able+Publishers&rft.date=2005&rft.type=Book+Chapter&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F4823%2F1%2Flangacqu.pdf&rft.identifier=++Allott%2C+Robin++(2005)+THE+CHILD+AND+THE+WORLD%3A+How+Children+acquire+Language.++%5BBook+Chapter%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F4823%2F