tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jan 27 08:38:06 1996

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Re: "Native Speakers"



TL>I've been following the "native speakers" conversation with a little
TL>confusion.  I'm no linguist (even though I've always wanted to play one on
TL>TV), but I can't help thinking that the phenomenon of children learning a
TL>language correctly while their parents have an imperfect grasp of it is due
TL>to their having contact with many other sources of the language.

Children don't learn language by merely imitating adult examples.
Children are little grammar machines. While they do start out
overgeneralizing the rules a bit ("she do's it" is a common construction
for 3 year olds), they sort it out eventually because their little
brains are built for this stuff.
Hey, it's been studied, it's been tested, and it is happening in my own
family...
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�������� 206.106.240.69  �۲�����
�������� "Join the Fun"  �۲�����




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