The Language Instinct

The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language (1994), by famed Harvard psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker, posits that humans learn language primarily through an instinct, guided by human instruction, that develops naturally as infants are brought up in their respective communities. Pinker remains a leader in the field of cognitive psychology.

The book’s themes include language acquisition, the possibility that language is an inborn trait, and that language is a result of mankind's evolution from hunter-gathers. Along with links to hundreds of studies, The Language Instinct contains multiple examples within the text that demonstrate the nuances and mysteries of language.

Pinker begins by saying that language is the most unique features humans possess. It’s an exciting time to write about language because, since the mid 1970s, cognitive science (a combination of neurobiology, computer science, psychology, linguistics and philosophy) has unveiled dozens of features of language and dispelled several common misconceptions about language acquisition.



Pinker describes language as "biological adaptation to communicate." He points to anthropological studies of tribes that had no contact with the larger world until the 1920s. Among those tribes, language was acquired seamlessly, without specific instruction. Pinker also looks at the research of Derek Bickerton, a linguist who published major studies on the development of creole languages, and who found that creole speakers developed new rules of grammar that remained remarkably consistent. Also supporting the idea that language is an instinct are studies that show that hearing-impaired infants will “babble” with their hands at a greater rate than hearing babies.

Pinker calls the human capacity for language “Mentalese.” His definition alls in line with the theories of Noam Chomsky, one of the founders of cognitive science who, in the 1950s, suggested that humans acquired language through their biology. Having studied thousands of examples of native speakers, Chomsky called this innate possession of language a “Universal Grammar.”  This proclamation ran counter to the social science theories of the time, which contended that language had to be deliberately taught by adults.

Contemporary cognitive psychology research shows that babies young as five months have “thoughts” on toy preference, and even five-day old babies have some perception of numbers. Mentalese increases in complexity as one ages. Pinker notes that scientists like Nikola Tesla (responsible for advances in electric motors) and Francis Crick (who, along with James Watson, discovered DNA) initially conceived of advances not in words but in images. Even people who make their living with words—poets like Samuel Taylor Coleridge and writers like Joan Didion—have said that they are usually inspired by a feeling or visual image.



Because children have a “window” for maximum language learning, adults tend to have trouble learning a second language. This window must exist because children around four years old learn grammar and vocabulary so quickly; this exponential learning cannot be explained by adult intervention or guidance. Language learning can be encouraged, and children must be in a social environment to absorb language, but the exact words they remember and the grammar they display probably has a biological basis.

Citing research from MIT’s Center for Cognitive Science, which he directed in the early 1990s, Pinker suggests that the specific language one learns does not dictate how one perceives the world. His research, then, is counter to the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis that language shapes one’s perception of reality. He considers the popular myth that the Eskimo have dozens of words for snow. If one looks at an Eskimo dictionary, however, one finds that there are only two direct equivalents to snow. Pinker goes on to show that language and thought cannot be tied together; such a tie would fail to account for success in math, music, and social psychology.

Language, according to Pinker, works through “mental trees.” When one word is spoken, humans quickly think of another word that adjusts the meaning to an intention. This process can go on infinitely. Children learn this grammar with age. But even as adults, there are frequent slip-ups, such as one news article that wrote “Yoko Ono will talk about her husband John Lennon who was killed in an interview with Barbara Walters”.



The theory that language is an instinct has opened up the possibility that humans have had access to language learning for about 2.5 million years. Pinker reviews the research completed by neurolinguistics, which demonstrates that there are specific genes and regions of the brain that develop to allow the individual to practice language.

While popular media accounts claim that chimpanzees can learn American Sign Language, Pinker shows that most data suggest that chimpanzees are not mentally wired to acquire language. They lack the language instinct that humans possess.

Pinker also suggests that considering the incredible complexity of language, people’s grammar tends to be very adaptable. Those who criticize it tend to do so for political or social reasons, not for linguistic reasons. Criticisms about language use also are often related to race or class. Pinker argues that those kinds of arguments shouldn’t be taught in school, as they are not vital to successful communication.