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Thu 8 May, 2003 01:43 pm
This comes after re-reading the thread of the "secret of multilingual people".
Is the Ability To Learn Other Language Genetic?
I have known poliglot families and strictly monolingual families, it seems to come with the genes package, yet... my father studied English for years, and never went farther than "Khamanegs, pleeze" or "Whatsemare weet you". My mother did slighly better. I can absorb languages quite easily. So does my brother (who is as far from a scholar as you can get). And I know a familiy in which the opposite is true, to the parents' despair.
What's your take on the subject?
Hmm. I think there is a genetic predisposition to linguistic aptitude, in general, but that's not about learning other languages, per se.
This would lead us to a second, related, question.
If research has proven that, as an average, women master language more than men do, does it mean that it would be easier for women to learn another language?
I guess there are logical elements (need, for example, to grasp the different grammar) that are not necessarily connected with general linguistic aptitudes.
I think mcuh of the predisposition is genetic. The thing about women was that they are more easily able to use the vocabulary that they know, the study I read did not mention that they learn the vocabulary more readily.
The study did not conclude whether it was genetic or whether circumstantial (i.e. they talk more so they talk more betta).
Math skills are genetically transmitted, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least, that language skills would also be genetically regulated.
Probably associated with the speech area of the brain (Broca's).http://biology.about.com/library/organs/brain/blbroca.htm
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