Language in humans has evolved culturally rather than genetically, according to a study by UCL (University College London) and US researchers. By modelling the ways in which genes for language might have evolved alongside language itself, the study showed that genetic adaptation to language would be highly unlikely, as cultural conventions change much more rapidly than genes. Thus, the biological machinery upon which human language is built appears to predate the emergence of language.
According to a phenomenon known as the Baldwin effect, characteristics that are learned or developed over a lifespan may become gradually encoded in the genome over many generations, because organisms with a stronger predisposition to acquire a trait have a selective advantage. Over generations, the amount of environmental exposure required to develop the trait decreases, and eventually no environmental exposure may be needed - the trait is genetically encoded. An example of the Baldwin effect is the development of calluses on the keels and sterna of ostriches. The calluses may initially have developed in response to abrasion where the keel and sterna touch the ground during sitting. Natural selection then favored individuals that could develop calluses more rapidly, until callus development became triggered within the embryo and could occur without environmental stimulation. The PNAS paper explored circumstances under which a similar evolutionary mechanism could genetically assimilate properties of language - a theory that has been widely favoured by those arguing for the existence of 'language genes'.
The study modelled ways in which genes encoding language-specific properties could have coevolved with language itself. The key finding was that genes for language could have coevolved only in a highly stable linguistic environment; a rapidly changing linguistic environment would not provide a stable target for natural selection. Thus, a biological endowment could not coevolve with p
"At TEDxDubai, longtime English teacher Patricia Ryan asks a provocative question: Is the world's focus on English preventing the spread of great ideas in other languages? (For instance: what if Einstein had to pass the TOEFL?) It's a passionate defense of translating and sharing ideas.
About Patricia Ryan
Patricia Ryan has spent the past three-plus decades teaching English in Arabic countries -- where she has seen vast cultural (and linguistic) change."
"On
peut pas vraiment dire qu'on choisit son lieu de naissance
Ce que vont
découvrir petit à petit les cinq sens
Moi, un jour mes parents ont posé leurs
valises, alors voilà
Ce sont ces trottoirs qu'ont vu mes premiers
pas
Je viens de là où les mecs traînent en bande pour tromper
l'ennui
Je viens de là où, en bas, ça joue au foot au milieu de la nuit
Je
viens de là où on fait attention à la marque de ses textiles
Et même si on
les achète au marché, on plaisante pas avec le style
Je viens de là où le
langage est en permanente évolution
Verlan, rebeu, argot, gros processus de
création
Chez nous, les chercheurs, les linguistes viennent prendre des
rendez-vous
On n'a pas tout le temps le même dictionnaire mais on a plus de
mots que vous
Je viens de là où les jeunes ont tous une maîtrise de
vannes
Un D.E.A. de chambrettes, une répartie jamais en panne
Intelligence
de la rue, de la démerde ou du quotidien
Appelle ça comme tu veux mais pour
nous carotter, tiens-toi bien
On jure sur la tête de sa mère à l'âge de neuf
ans
On a l'insulte facile mais un vocabulaire innovant
Je viens de là
où, dans les premières soirées, ça danse déjà le break
Je viens de là où nos
premiers rendez-vous se passent autour d'un grec
Je viens de là où on aime le
rap, cette musique qui transpire
Qui sent le vrai, qui transmet, qui
témoigne, qui respire
Je viens de là où y a du gros son et pas mal de rimes
amères
Je viens de là où ça choque personne qu'un groupe s'appelle "Nique Ta
Mère"
Je viens de là et je kiffe ça, malgré tout ce qu'on en pense
A
chacun son territoire, à chacun sa France
Si j' rends hommage à ces lieux, à
chaque expiration
C'est qu' c'est ici qu' j'ai puisé toute mon
inspiration
Je viens de là et je kiffe ça, malgré tout ce qu'on en
pense
A chacun son territoire, à chacun sa France
Si j' rends hommage à
ces lieux, à chaque expiration
C'e
This degree is designed to provide both the advanced level of mastery in language and culture and the pedagogical knowledge they need for full certification from the Maine State Department of Education.
Additional requirements include a course in advanced French grammar or one in French stylistics and a minimum of 12 hours of 500-level courses in French linguistics, film, literature, and contemporary society.
(suggested by Deb Taylor)
Advice for language learners
General warning: what follows may or may not apply to you. It's based on what linguistics knows about people in general (but any general advice will be ludicrously inappropriate for some people) and on my own experience (but you're not the same as me). If you have another way of learning that works, more power to you.
Given the discussion so far, the prospects for language learning may seem pretty bleak. It seems that you'll only learn a language if you really need to; but the fact that you haven't done so already is a pretty good indication that you don't really need to. How to break out of this paradox?
At the least, try to make the facts of language learning work for you, not against you. Exposure to the language, for instance, works in your favor. So create exposure.
* Read books in the target language.
* Better yet, read comics and magazines. (They're easier, more colloquial, and easier to incorporate into your weekly routine.)
* Buy music that's sung in it; play it while you're doing other things.
* Read websites and participate in newsgroups that use it.
* Play language tapes in your car. If you have none, make some for yourself.
* Hang out in the neighborhood where they speak it.
* Try it out with anyone you know who speaks it. If necessary, go make new friends.
* Seek out opportunities to work using the language.
* Babysit a child, or hire a sitter, who speaks the language.
* Take notes in your classes or at meetings in the language.
* Marry a speaker of the language. (Warning: marry someone patient: some people want you to know their language-- they don't want to teach it. Also, this strategy is tricky for multiple languages.)
Taking a class can be effective, partly for the instruction, but also because you can meet others who are learning the language, and because, psychologically, classes may be needed to make us give the subject matter time and attention. Self-study is too eas
Spanish and Russian are relatively different languages, even if they historically share a common basis in the Indo-European family. The differences extend to the verbal system. Spanish has inherited a system that is relatively rich in forms from Latin.
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