you'll ever accomplish as a human being already happened,

最偉大創舉之一已經完成了

and that is language development.

就是語言發展

I mean, think about it.

我的意思是，你想想看

When you're a baby, all these sounds are coming at you,

當你還是個嬰兒，你接收到各種聲音

and somehow, you're able to figure out

而你不知為何卻能夠判斷

which sounds are words, where there are breaks

那些聲音是詞語、字與字之間

between the words, general grammatical rules,

哪裡該斷句、普遍的文法規則

and you're able to apply them without

而你在未受到正式訓練的情況下

any real formal training.

卻能夠運用它們

This is amazing.

這真的很神奇

So naturally, a lot of research has

所以很自然地，有很多研究

been done into how this ability develops.

都在探討這項能力是如何發展的

And I'm going to tell you about the three main theories that

而我要告訴你們三個探究語言發展

look at language development.

的主要理論

So first, we start out with the nativist,

首先，我們從先天論開始

or innatist perspective.

又稱固有觀點

And what this perspective says is

這個觀點說的是

that children are born with the ability to learn language.

小孩天生就有學習語言的能力

And the main guy associated with this theory is Noam Chomsky.

這個理論的代表人物是諾姆．喬姆斯基

And he thought the humans had something called a language

他認為人類大腦裡有一個東西叫做

acquisition device, or LAD, in their brains

語言習得設備(LAD)

that allowed them to learn language.

讓他們得以學習語言

And this isn't really supposed to be

而它不見得是在

in a specific part of the brain.

大腦的某個特定部位

It's just an idea that this ability exists.

只是一個這項能力存在的想法

And this works because he thought

這理論成立是因為他認為

that all languages shared a universal grammar,

所有語言共用一個普遍文法

or the same basic elements, so all languages would

就是相同的基本元素，所以所有語言

have nouns, verbs, things like that.

都有名詞、動詞等等

So the language acquisition device

語言習得設備

enables the child to pick up on and understand

讓小孩得以學習並理解

those types of words and their organization

任何語言的句子中

within a sentence for any language.

字詞的種類和組織

This goes along with the idea that there

這伴隨著一個論點，也就是存在有

is a "critical period" or a "sensitive period."

「關鍵期」或是「敏感期」

The "critical period" is usually thought

「關鍵期」一般認為是

to be from birth until about age eight or nine,

從出生直到大約8、9歲

and it's the period of time in which

在這個時期

a child is most able to learn a language.

小孩學習語言的能力最強

So if you try to learn a language after that age,

所以如果你在那個年紀後試著要學語言

it's a lot harder.

就會難很多

It's not impossible.

並非不可能

It's just a lot harder.

只是變得很難

And nativists like Chomsky would say

而先天論者例如喬姆斯基會說

that that's because the LAD only operates

那是因為LAD只在

during that critical period.

關鍵期有作用

Once you start using it, then it specializes to your language,

一旦你開始用它，它就對你的語言有專一性

and it becomes unable to detect other sounds and grammar

並變得無法偵測其他聲音和

from other languages.

其他語言中的文法

The second theory I want to tell you about

我要告訴你們的第二個理論

is the learning theory.

是學習論

Learning theorists think that children

支持學習論者認為小孩

aren't born with anything.

生來什麼都沒有

They only acquire language through reinforcement.

他們只能透過加強來習得語言

So a learning theorist would say that a child learns to say

所以一位學習論者會說小孩學會說

"mama" because every time it makes it sound that approaches

「媽媽」是因為它每次發出這個聲音那個東西就會過來

that-- so "ma-something"-- then Mom starts smiling,

那個東西--「媽開頭的」--接著媽媽便微笑

hugging the child, so over time, the child learns, oh,

抱抱小孩，多次之後，小孩就知道了，喔

the more I make this sound, the more I get hugs and smiles.

我發出這個聲音愈多次，就能得到愈多擁抱和微笑

And so then, eventually, it learns to say "ma,"

所以到最後，它學會說「媽」

and then say it again, and learns to say "mama."

接著再說一次，就學會說「媽媽」

So this makes sense.

這樣就合理了

But a strict learning theory doesn't

但嚴格的學習論無法

explain how children are able to produce words they've never

解釋小孩是如何說出他們從未聽過的字

heard before or produce unique sentences.

或說出獨立的句子

So we have another theory called the interactionist approach.

所以我們有另一個理論叫交互作用

Sometimes this is called the social interactionist approach,

有時候又稱為社會交互作用

because these theorists believe that biological and social

因為這些理論學家相信生物和社會

factors have to interact in order for children

因素必須交互作用以讓小孩

to learn language.

學習語言

So they would say that children strongly

所以他們會說小孩強烈

desire to communicate with others,

渴望和他人溝通

such as the adults in their lives,

像是他們生活中的大人

and that desire motivates them to learn

而這份渴望促使他們學習

to communicate via language.

利用語言溝通

And the main theorist associated with this school of thought

這個學派最主要的理論學家

is Vygotsky.

是維高斯基

He was a big proponent of the importance

他強力支持

of social interaction in the development of children.

社會互動在小孩發育過程中的重要性

All three of these theories have made big contributions

這三個理論對於

to our understanding of how children develop language.

我們理解小孩如何發展語言有重大貢獻

So the next time you look at a baby, be impressed.

你下次看到嬰兒的時候，要記得

They're actually working really hard.

他們其實正在努力著