Question

Seven-month-old Tara, who is deaf, has begun to babble manually at about the same time hearing infants begin babbling orally. Position Supported: 4. When Michelle was an infant, she was able to perceive differences among the spoken sounds of many languages. As she grew, her preference for hearing her native language actually influenced the development of her brain. Now a teenager, Michelle can no longer perceive certain speech sounds from languages other than her own. Position Supported:

Answer 1

Answer:

Position Supported: Nature

Position Supported: Bruner

Explanation:

In the first case of Tara, the position supported would be the 'nature' as babbling is the initial stage of language acquisition in which the child attempts to utter articulate sounds without any recognizable pattern. This stage begins very soon after the birth of the child. Since Tara is deaf, she might not be able to go through the further stages of language acquisition properly(as she cannot listen and therefore, cannot imitate and learn) but babbling is something natural in which the child conveys his/her emotions.

In the latter, Michelle's inability to perceive specific speech sounds of other languages exemplifies 'Bruner's language acquisition support system.' Bruner's theory of language acquisition asserts that nature, as well as nurture(environment), both play an equal role in language development. Since Michelle was able to perceive these differences or distinctions among the spoken sounds of various languages naturally but her preference or inclination towards her native language developed her brain accordingly(as she didn't receive such an environment further) and this is the reason she cannot perceive the differences now. This justifies that the genetic potential or capability of a language can not be continued without social learning.