Assignment: Interaction of Environment and

Heredity in Language Development

Submitted To: Ma’am Huma Rashid

Submitted By: Muhammad Yaqoob

Roll Number: 819045

Class/Section: M.A (2B)

Submitted Date: 15/6/2020

The innateness theory put forth by Hilary Putnam shows that children have some knowledge to
develop language at birth. The theory becomes more authentic when science proves a gene
FOXP2 responsible for language development in humans. Researchers now identify that the
human capacity to produce speech is the result of the interaction of a number of genes. Humans
are born with a set of language learning tools regarded as LAD. It is an intellectual part of the
mind which houses the ability to obtain and generate the language. Children are competent to
derive the guidelines of a language through supposition testing because they are prepared with a
learning acquisition device. A scientific revolution aired when an American linguist Noam
Chomsky proposed that all born with an innate knowledge of grammar that serves as the basis
for all language acquisition. In other words, for humans, language is a predisposition. The
 theory, however, has long been met with extensive criticism until now. Children have innate
capacity to acquire language but generally, it depends on where the child brought up. If the child
brought up in China, obviously he/she will speak the Chinese language, same for other societies
and vice versa. It shapes the inborn language and thereby makes it usable (though inexplicable to
people that grew up in environments with meaningfully different from language habits). The
discussion shows that both environment and heredity play a great role in acquiring a language. A
child is learned from society or acquired genetically is a long debate among the linguists. To
prove the theories of how they interact with each other, nativists and empiricists put forth
different theories. To understand the nature of the topic, it is necessary to deem the nature versus
nurture. Nature is what we consider as pre-wiring and is influenced by genetic heritage and other
biological causes. Nurture is commonly taken as the influence of exterior elements after
conception, e.g., the product of disclosure, life experiences, and learning on a discrete. In this
matter, there are simply too many “facts” on both sides of the argument which are unpredictable
with an “all or nothing” view. It is more important to see how much both play their contribution
to making language. Galton observed that intellectual aptitude was mainly inherited and that the
inclination for “genius” to run in families was the consequence of a natural dominance. All the
discussion can be summed up in these words. In this schema, nature and nurture are thick as
thieves. Some genes, for example, cannot be stimulated without certain environmental
involvements. The development of vision is a principal example of this. People cannot develop
normal sight without disclosure to pictorial stimuli. Likewise, some environmental inputs may be
challenged by some genes. For example, some lifelong smokers may never understand smoking-
related illnesses, and this may be due at least in part to their genes. Environmental toxins may
change the manifestation of some genes, and genes for many behaviors supposed to have a
genetic origin have not been exposed.

Reference

YaQoOB, MsM. “Interaction of Environment and Heredity in Language Development.” Educate

the World, Blogger, 13 June 2020, msmyaqoob.blogspot.com/2020/06/interaction-of-
environment-and-heredity.html.