Tomb of the Geek

The question of how much the remarkable ability of humans to use language is innate and how much is culturally determined continues, but new information certainly seems to push the debate heavily in one direction.

A new sign language created over the last 30 years by deaf children in Nicaragua has given experts a unique insight into how languages evolve.

The language follows many basic rules common to all tongues, even though the children were not taught them.

It indicates some language traits are not passed on by culture, but instead arise due to the innate way human beings process language, experts claim. ...

It has been difficult to clear up the [nature v. nurture] argument, because most existing languages are ancient in origin and it is therefore hard to pinpoint how they formed.

That is why the sign language invented by a small group of deaf children in Nicaragua is so unusual. It has given scientists the clearest insight yet into how humans learn language. ...

Before the 1970s, most deaf people in Nicaragua stayed at home and had little contact with one another, according to Dr Senghas.

Then, in 1981, a vocational school opened, and the children began to communicate with each other. No one actually taught them to sign, but they began to develop a system of gestures to get their messages across.

At first, these were rather crude and pantomime-like, similar to the gestures a hearing person might make if they had to describe something without speaking.

But as a new wave of children learned the gestures they turned them into a sophisticated sign language, Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL), complete with traits seen in nearly all other languages - both spoken and sign.

One of the things that defines a language is what's called "discreteness," where different parts of experience have different indicators which then can be combined in a huge number of ways to express different concepts and new experiences.

The example the article gives is that of describing rolling down a hill. A hearing person explaining that without words would likely use a continuous gesture. The first group of children to develop NSL would express it in much the same way as a hearing person.

But there's actually not just one elements here, but two: a type of motion and a direction. As later children built a richer means of expression on the original crude base, the elements were separated. Instead of it being "rolling down," it became "rolling" plus "down." The advantage is that while "rolling down" can only be used for rolling down, "rolling" can be used for anything rolling and "down" for anything down, providing for far more options.

"If they were just clever at learning they would have learned to do it the way they had seen it being done," said Dr Senghas. "But that isn't what they did - they ended up acquiring something different. They ended up breaking down the gestures into something they could build a language out of."

This is compelling evidence that humans are predisposed to develop language in this way, say the researchers. In other words, children instinctively break information down into small chunks so they can have the flexibility to string them back together, to form sentences with a range of meanings.

Interestingly, adults lose this talent, which also suggests there is an innate element to the language learning process. ...

"It doesn't prove that language is hard wired to the degree some people say it is, but it does prove the fundamentals of language are part of the innate endowment," [Dr Senghas] said. "So you don't have language or grammar in your head when you are born, but you do have certain learning abilities."

I actually think I'd go a little farther than Dr. Senghas and suggest that what we have in our heads when we're born is more than the learning ability but a certain framework, a certain natural structure, within which that ability operates. The fact that NSL "follows many basic rules common to all tongues, even though the children were not taught them" would seem to be a rather powerful indicator in that direction.