The “native language machine” in our brains

"Native vs. foreign language learning" Series overview

“Native vs. foreign language learning” series: Part 2

Previously, we discussed the overall idea that humans learn “native languages” and “foreign languages” differently.

With this background understanding in mind, we can explore how humans gain grammatical knowledge of their “native languages” in more depth and see why a “native language” is such an important concept to linguists and must be distinctly differentiated from a “foreign language.”

When humans are in their early childhood (and within their critical period of “native language” learning), language input from the external environment is naturally transformed into abstract grammatical knowledge in the brain. For humans without hearing impairments, language input means “speech input”. For those with hearing impairments, language input means “sign input.”

The human brain (within the critical period of native language learning) has a specific area that is wired for the purpose of transforming language input in the environment into abstract grammatical knowledge just through exposure alone.

This brain area allows all of us to gain knowledge of the grammar of our native language completely passively and subconsciously, without any active effort or learning.

The grammatical knowledge of our native language(s) that all of us are hard-wired to gain in early childhood is stored as a sort of implicit grammatical framework in our brains.

Everything that we ever say in our native language is a direct “product” of this implicit grammatical framework.

This means that everything we ever say in our native language, by definition, conforms to the grammatical rules that are in place in the implicit framework--because we would not be able to say that thing in the first place if there were no framework in the brain for us to produce it.

It is useful to use an analogy of a mechanical machine to think about this “native language grammatical framework” in our brains that we are hard-wired to gain in childhood.

Let us imagine that the native language grammatical framework in our brains—which, again, forms naturally during our critical periods—is a mechanical machine that makes red balls.

Inside this machine that makes red balls, there are different components, like red ink and moulds that are shaped like balls.

In other words, “red ink” and “ball-shaped moulds” are the “settings” of this machine.

This machine makes red balls because it has the “settings” of “red ink” and “ball-shaped moulds.” The products of this machine are by definition red balls. This machine would not ever make, say, black cubes, because it has these specific settings.

The implicit grammatical framework in our brains for our native language is like this “red ball machine”--only that, instead of “red ink” and “ball-shaped moulds”, the specific “settings” are the grammatical rules of our native language that we gain naturally in early childhood.

The products of the red ball machine in our analogy will always be red balls moulded by the ball-shaped pressed and sprayed with red ink, because of the machine’s specific settings.

In the same way, the “products” of the implicit native language grammatical framework in our brains will always be words, phrases, and sentences conforming to the grammar of our native language--because the grammatical rules of our native language are the “settings.”

a visualization of the “native language machine” in our brains

When we say something in our native language, the thing we say “comes out” of our “native language machine” conforming to the grammatical “settings” in place. This is just like how red balls come out of the red ball machine as products conforming to that machine’s settings.

The things we say in our native language always reflect the “grammatical settings” in the native language framework that we subconsciously form in early childhood--because the framework is what allows us to say things in the first place!

The order of events is actually like this:

First, we gain the “grammatical settings” of our native language framework passively and naturally through exposure in early childhood.

Then, this “native language machine” allows us to produce everything we ever say in our native language.

Contrary to widespread belief, we do not say things in our native language by consciously applying grammatical rules that we explicitly know.

In fact, it is the exact opposite--we gain a “native language machine” passively in our childhood, and then this “machine” with all the “grammatical settings” of our native language “churns out” all of the things we ever produce in our native language, conforming to these settings.

This is why it is very important to differentiate a “native language” from a “foreign language.”

Humans only learn “native languages” this way--first by passively, subconsciously forming a framework with all the right settings, then producing utterances according to these settings after.

After our critical periods, we are no longer able to form a “native language machine” in our brains. If we want to learn more languages, we can only learn them as “foreign languages”--that means learning explicitly and with conscious effort.

This is also why there is an axiom in Linguistics that “native speakers do not make grammatical mistakes”--even though there is a common misconception that native speakers also make grammatical mistakes.

Just like a red ball machine by definition makes red balls, the native language framework in our brains by definition produces utterances according to the grammar of the language that we are exposed to as children.

So, an opinion like “even native speakers make grammatical mistakes” is as misguided as an opinion like “even a red ball machine makes black cubes.”

Unless a machine “malfunctions,” everything that comes out of it would always be whatever the machine is set up to make.

Our “native language machine” can also “malfunction”--for example, when people suffer brain damage, they can lose the ability to speak their native languages as native speakers.

But without any “malfunction,” our “native language machine” is set up--again, naturally and subconsciously in our early childhood--to produce words, phrases, and sentences according to the grammar of our native language, that is, the language that we are exposed to during our critical periods.

With its specific settings, our “native language machine” literally cannot produce anything other than words, phrases, and sentences that conform to the grammar of that language.

(Note: Other articles will explore the common misconception that “even native speakers make grammatical mistakes.” The ideas of “native speakers” and “native languages” are very important to grasp clearly if we want to learn foreign languages with scientific understanding.)

"Native vs. foreign language learning" Series: Part 1

"Native vs. foreign language learning" Series: Part 3

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