How much of the material on language learning/rules etc. has been done on
languages of a different type than English, e.g. agglutinative, or
isolating, like Eskimo or Chinese? From what I've seen in psychology
English speakers in general and Anglo-Americans in particular are almost
the most hopelessly culture-bound people on the planet. (The "almost" is
for caution's sake - there might be, I just haven't met them yet.)
I live in close proximity to a large number of nieces and nephews (family
size in our community is approximately eight children per completed
family) and my observation is that the most natural language teacher for
a young child is an older child, and they provide abundant input to the
learner in terms of new material and grammatical corrections. Perhaps
the "natural way" to learn language is not from an adult but from a
mixed-age group of peers in the family or on the village street, and the
American norm of age-segregated groups or individuals tutored by adults
is a regional/middle class peculiarity? Perhaps some natural history
type observation of learning in "less advanced" communities might be in
order?
Just thinking.
Rachel Heckert
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