Ability Quote by Steven Pinker

It seems a miracle that young children easily learn the language of any environment into which they were born. The generative approach to grammar,…

— Niels Kaj Jerne

Language is not a genetic gift, it is a social gift. Learning a new language is becoming a member of the club -the community…

— Frank Smith

I don't think language could have evolved if it was the only distinctive trait. It goes hand in hand with our ability to develop…

— Steven Pinker

Babies and language are the essential ingredients of civilization, and speakers of language no more know where it came from than babies know where…

— Charlton Laird

Plainly, children learn their language. I don't speak Swahili. And it cannot be that my language is 'an innate property of our brain.' Otherwise…

— Noam Chomsky

You can imagine a different world in which a number of species developed with different genetically determined linguistic systems. It hasn't happened in evolution.…

— Noam Chomsky

“Language is deeply entwined in the intellectual development of humanity itself, it accompanies the latter upon every step of its localized progression or regression;…

— Wilhelm von Humboldt

It's perfectly obvious that there is some genetic factor that distinguishes humans from other animals and that it is language-specific. The theory of that…

— Noam Chomsky

The gift of language is the single human trait that marks us all genetically, setting us apart from the rest of life.

— Lewis Thomas

Some innate capacity - some part of the human genetic endowment - enters into language acquisition. That much is uncontroversial among those who believe…

— Noam Chomsky

Language is possible due to a number of cognitive and physical characteristics that are unique to humans but none of which that are unique…

— Daniel Everett

If language naturally evolves to serve the needs of tiny rodents with tiny rodent brains, then what's unique about language isn't the brilliant humans…

— Temple Grandin