Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!sri-unix!quintus!ok From: ok@quintus.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.ai,sci.lang Subject: Re: Language Learning (anecdotes) Message-ID: <435@cresswell.quintus.UUCP> Date: Fri, 4-Dec-87 22:24:50 EST Article-I.D.: cresswel.435 Posted: Fri Dec 4 22:24:50 1987 Date-Received: Tue, 8-Dec-87 07:29:22 EST References: <1966@uwmacc.UUCP> <12400009@iuvax> <1117@uhccux.UUCP> <2048@uwmacc.UUCP> Organization: Quintus Computer Systems, Mountain View, CA Lines: 11 Xref: utgpu comp.ai:1122 sci.lang:1653 Summary: children don't learn their native language Maybe it's my ignorance showing, but everyone seems to be asking the question "children can learn their native language perfectly (as in: without an accent), can adults learn languages perfectly too, and if not why not?". It seems to me that the first part of this question is false: children do NOT learn to speak the same language as their parents. This is particularly clear in the case of slang and metaphor (I *still* don't know what "twenty-three skidoo" meant), but I quite certainly haven't got the same accent as my parents, and in my own country "age dialects" seemed more obvious to me than "regional" dialects. Speakers of a language where "silly" once meant "happy" shouldn't rush to assume that children have some magical skill lost to adults.