Education

Continuing with children’s relationship with language, children learn “implicitly”, which means they are able to absorb have a substantial amount of knowledge of a language but are not consciously aware of it. Adults can possess a substantial amount of knowledge prior to developing any knowledge “that can be used with the same speed, accuracy, and spontaneity with which children use their implicit knowledge”. Teens and adults depend on analysis and working memory, whereas children utilize patterns in sound and short-term memory. Because of the fluidity in learning with children, those who learn more than one language before the age of 6 are more likely to become native speakers in all aspects of a language but the older children get the harder it becomes to be fluent in a language (DeKeyser 1). Timing and sequence heavily impact how a person learns a language, so much that researchers have discovered distinctions between kinds of multilingualism​. An example of different​ kinds of multilingualism ​can be informal and formal bilinguals. People who are “formal bilinguals” are people who learn a language in school or academic settings, where people who are informal bilinguals learn their languages outside of settings like schools, “imitating the natural processes of acquiring the mother tongue”. Another distinction in multilingualism is hyperpolyglots. Hyperpolyglots are multilingual people who are able to retain knowledge and learn languages at much faster rates than the average person. Their neurology is much different than most providing them the capabilities to learn several languages with ease. Research has shown that hyperpolyglots tend to be​ “males, left-handed and… take pleasure in pouring over grammar and vocabulary exercises that others might find tedious.”​ Hyperpolyglots also tend to use various methods to learn another language. These methods can range from being on online chat rooms where only one language is spoken, watching TV or listening to music in a language, reading a book in a language, and so much more. In the experience of one hyperpolyglot, “​I’ll probably go through anywhere between three to 15 hours of audio programs and then, after I’m relatively confident in terms of vocabulary, I’ll start reading and watching the news. I’ll read the BBC, I’ll go through English and then Arabic, Farsi, maybe Swahili or Indonesian. I’m guessing [foreign language] would be to make it legal. You know, once I’m really confident with a language, I can watch a movie without reading the subtitles [background talking] and also, I can feel a little bit less guilty about you know, watching [laugh] soap operas.”​ Hyperpolyglots provide great insight into how the brain functions when learning multiple languages. Their proficiency can open new doors in the way of learning. I’ll be finishing up this series next month, so please stay tuned! See you next month. Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Community Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Military & Veterans Peace People Politics ALLOWING PEOPLE TO DISCOVER THE  PERSON I AM. July 29, 2020/No Comments ALLOWING PEOPLE TO DISCOVER THE  PERSON I AM. I’ve done a lot of reflecting over the course of the past Read More MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE LATINO COMMUNITY: A SUBJECT MATTER WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO IGNORE! February 28, 2020/No Comments MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE LATINO COMMUNITY: A SUBJECT MATTER WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO IGNORE! In our last article, we were Read More MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE LATINO COMMUNITY: A SUBJECT MATTER WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO IGNORE! September 29, 2019/No Comments MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE LATINO COMMUNITY: A SUBJECT MATTER WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO IGNORE! For this month, I would like Read More Load More End of Content.

Linguistics is the study of language and all its aspects. Questions of language and its functions began to emerge during the eighteenth to nineteenth century, among European scholars. But Europeans were certainly not the first to ponder language history and structure. Indian scholar Panini organized a collection of data and analysis on the grammar and sound of Sanskrit in the fourth or fifth B.C.E. Because of these investigations we now have a much better understanding of language functions. Some principle elements of any spoken language may include “the speech sounds themselves, the system of using certain sounds to tell words apart in a given language, the forms of words, the structures by which words are combined into phrases and sentences, and the meaning components”. In the terms of linguists these are known as phonetics, phonemic, morphology, syntax and semantics. Language also has certain designs. An example of language design can be something like arbitrary speech, which is a speech that allows us to be able to talk about things hypothetically or imaginatively. This type of speech helps us solve theoretical problems. There’s also productive speech, which means when we take conventional vocabulary and speaking patterns to create new messages and new vocabulary and patterns. This design partly contributes to the evolution of speech. Shifting from “basic word writing to syllabic writing” then from “syllabic to alphabetic” is a product of generational rebuilding of learned information, so systems of writing and notation have been restructured by what works best. Humans have also created various mediums of communication, which essentially is multiple ways to teach languages. An example of this can be ASL or American Sign Language. It’s a visual language that possesses all the “structural features and design complexities of a spoken language” only with a different manifestation. After developing a relative understanding of language history and its functions, we can begin to delve into the science of learning languages, its effects on the brain and how it can benefit us.  Learning a language is important for the brain’s health. “Research shows that children deprived of early exposure to linguistic communication (which happens sometimes with deaf babies) do not develop the neurological structures in the brain necessary for handling the complexities of language later”. Children who aren’t taught how to communicate at a certain age are shown to suffer from neurological damage, thus leaving children intellectually stunted as a result. And though I must stop here, I’ll be happy to write more on the subject in next months column. Till next time! Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Community Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Military & Veterans Peace People Politics ALLOWING PEOPLE TO DISCOVER THE  PERSON I AM. July 29, 2020/No Comments ALLOWING PEOPLE TO DISCOVER THE  PERSON I AM. I’ve done a lot of reflecting over the course of the past Read More MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE LATINO COMMUNITY: A SUBJECT MATTER WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO IGNORE! February 28, 2020/No Comments MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE LATINO COMMUNITY: A SUBJECT MATTER WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO IGNORE! In our last article, we were Read More MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE LATINO COMMUNITY: A SUBJECT MATTER WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO IGNORE! September 29, 2019/No Comments MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE LATINO COMMUNITY: A SUBJECT MATTER WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO IGNORE! For this month, I would like Read More Load More End of Content.