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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

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