For Wednesday, 10/24, please read the following article, which may be downloaded from the “Readings” section of this website:

Newport, Elissa L. 2002. Critical periods in language development. In Lynn Nadel (ed.), Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, 737-740. London: Macmillan.

I have also made the following optional reading available for download:

Gould, James L. & Peter Marler. 1987. Learning by instinct. Scientific American 256(1): 74-85.

The Gould & Marler reading discusses certain examples of how animals acquire complex abilities (particularly, how bees acquire the ability to forage for food, and how songbirds acquire the ability to correctly produce the characteristic song(s) of their species).  These case studies are interesting because,  as we have hypothesized for human language development, the acquisition processes appear (i) to involve a complex interplay of innate knowledge/ability and experience, (ii) to be genetically triggered, and (iii) to depend upon a “critical” period for their proper development.  Although we might not have time to properly discuss these examples in class, I highly recommend that you read the article nonetheless:  it is accessibly written, and it provides an illuminating, complementary perspective on some of our current course themes.