Skip to main content

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION - EPISODE 4



The Creationist Theory: A continuation of the origin of language 
Saying apes can acquire language because they can learn some simple signs … is like saying humans can fly because they can jump” – Noam Chomsky (Horgan, J., Profile of Chomsky, Scientific American, 262(5):17, 1990)
The real reason why people deny that the different languages were created by God, is so that they can use bad language. After all, if language is not God-given, there are no objective standards and anything goes” Paul Braterman stated as he defends the reality of God being the originator of language. (https://paulbraterman.wordpress.com/2015/07/24/linguistic-creationism/).
The creationist theory holds that God created language as well as the world. It believes that man from onset was created with the ability to speak. This is because beyond just a creationist, God was also a speaking being (Genesis 1:3; Genesis 2:18), who spoke everything into existence (Genesis 1). Thus creating man in His own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27), God also created man as a speaking being evident when he, man was able to name the animals, spoke at the sight of seeing another being like him with little different structure (Genesis 2:19-20; Genesis 2:23-24).
Noam Chomsky assertion above and his postulation of the Language Acquisition Development (LAD) theory which claims that the child is residual with an inmate ability to acquire language throws more light to the fact that language was actually created.
Thus, The creationist theory emphasis that language is does not exist outside of man but within. It holds the languages in the world are inherent in man from creation (Egbilika, Josiah).
As factual and real as the creationist theory is, one thing is sure that language is stimulated, passes through a structured process. A child does not speak concrete constructions/sentence from birth. He/she passes through one stage of acquisition to the other before eventually speaking the language inherent in its environment i.e. his language environment.
A child’s language begins from his first kick in the womb to her first cry in the hand of the doctor/nurse/midwife to the sentences he makes later (Egbilika, Josiah)
True God created language; He did not create it in isolation. He placed it through a process resulting from an external stimulation.
Though language is inmate and inherent in human (child or adult), it needs an external aid to be acquired” (Egbilika, Josiah).


Egbilika Josiah
Linguist, Language/Communication Expert, Consultant, Editor, Public Speaker, Research Consultant
Turn In to #LanguageHealth Radio Programme, 9-10pm Every Wednesday, 92.3 Nigeria Info. Twitter: @megastarjec | languagehealth.blogspot.com | #LanguageSense Initiative | #LanguageHealth

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ENDOGLOSSOPHOBIA

By Josiah Chijindu Egbilika The word phobia is a Greek word that means “to be afraid of” or “fear of”. In one word, it refers to fear. It could be the fear of a thing, people ,object or language.  Lots of persons globally have one fear or the other. They find it difficult to relate to a particular thing. In some cases, it could cause harm if exposed to that situation. Same way, there are those who have fear for language, “Linguaphobia”. There are also those who have fear for speaking foreign languages “Xenoglossophobia”.  There are people who are afraid of speaking in the public too “Glossophobia”. There are also those who are afraid of speaking their own Indigenous or Native languages. This situation is referred to as “Endoglossophobia”.  The word Endoglossophobia was first dropped on Radio during the #LanguageHealth Show with Sam Oracle Chinedu and Josiah Chijindu Egbilika  Endoglossophobia is a common situation but has been subsumed into linguaphobia. This is not ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Global Call To Protect The Child's Right To Indigenous Language

by: Josiah Egbilika It is a well and known fact in Nigeria that May 27 of every year is used to celebrate the importance and existence of children. The day was set aside as a universal children's day every November 20 in 1954 but was first established for May 27 in Nigeria after the degree of 1964. The essence of the day is to create and enhance awareness of the rights of children in the society so everyone will adore and respect these rights and ensure children have a better growing life. Unfortunately, recent accounts have revealed a massive downplay to the protection of the rights of children in the country. A United Nations report shows that six out of every ten children experience some form of violence, one in four girls and ten per cent of boys have been victims of sexual violence with 23 million girls forced to child marriage. Beyond these abuses, one of such rights of the child that have received low attention over the years is the right to indigenous language. The right to...
Post a Comment
Read more

20 More Nigerian Words Included In Oxford Dictionary

by: Josiah Egbilika  Just like in 2020 when 29 Nigerian words, such as danfo, okada, next tomorrow, and mama put were included in the Oxford Dictionary, another milestone has been achieved in 2025 as The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added a more collection of Nigerian words to its latest update. In this latest update, 20 new words were included into the dictionary with majority of them from being lexicons from Nigerian Pidgin.  The words added to the dictionary include: 1. 419 2. abi 3. adire 4. agbero 5. area boy 6. cross-carpet 7. cross-carpeting 8. eba 9. Edo 10. gele 11. jand (noun, verb) 12. janded (adjective) 13. Japa (noun, verb) 14. Kanuri 15. Kobo 16. Naija 17. suya 18. Yahoo 19. Yahoo boy, and 20. Yarn Dust These additions showcase Nigeria’s cultural diversity, daily life, and street culture while highlighting the rising influence of Nigerian Pidgin across Africa and beyond. The 20 included words are in addition to at least 57 Nigerian words already in the dic...
Post a Comment
Read more