Islanguagelikefoodabasichumanneed?JudgingfromtheextremeexperimentofFrederickinthe13thcenturyitmaybe.Hopingtodiscoverwhatlanguageachildwouldspeakifheheardnomothertonguehetoldthenursestokeepsilent.
Allthebabiesdiedbeforethefirstyear.Butclearlytherewasmorethanlanguagedeprivation(剥夺，丧失).Whatwasmissingwasgoodmothering.Withoutgoodmotheringinthefirstyearoflifeespeciallytheabilitytosurviveisseriouslyaffected.
TodaynosuchextremedeprivationexistsasthatorderedbyFrederick.Neverthelesssomechildrenarestillbackwardinspeaking.Mostoftenthereasonforthisisthatthemotherisinsensitivetosignalsofthebabywhosebrainisprogrammedtomopuplanguagerapidly.Therearecriticaltimesitseemswhenchildrenlearnmorerapidly.Ifthesesensitiveperiodsareneglectedtheidealtimeforacquiringskillspassesandtheymightneverbelearnedsoeasilyagain.
LinguistssuggestthatspeechmilestonesarereachedinafixedorderandataconstantagebuttherearecaseswherespeechhasstartedlateinachildwhoeventuallyturnsouttobeofhighIQ.
Recentevidencesuggeststhatababyisbornwiththeabilitytospeak.Whatisspecialaboutman’sbraincomparedwiththatofthemonkeyisthecomplexsystemwhichenablesachildtoconnectthesightandfeelofsayateddybearwiththesoundpattern“teddybear”.
Butspeechhastobedevelopedandthisdependsoninteractionbetweenthemotherandthechildwherethemotherrecognizesthesignalsinthechild’sbabblingclinginggraspingcryingsmilingandrespondstothem.Insensitivityofthemothertothesesignalsreducestheinteractionbecausethechildgetsdiscouragedandsendsoutonlytheobvioussignals.Sensitivitytothechild’snonverbal(非语言的)signalsisbasictothegrowthanddevelopmentoflanguage.
小题1:Frederick’sexperimentwasextremebecause_________.