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From: paul@tut.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.ai,sci.lang
Subject: Re: Language Learning
Message-ID: <2060@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Date: Sun, 22-Nov-87 11:49:48 EST
Article-I.D.: tut.2060
Posted: Sun Nov 22 11:49:48 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 25-Nov-87 04:02:29 EST
References: <8986@shemp.UCLA.EDU> <1125@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <1966@uwmacc.UUCP> <2755@bcsaic.UUCP> <1413@houdi.UUCP> <2819@bcsaic.UUCP>
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept of Computer and Information Science
Lines: 14
Keywords: Goal Based
Xref: utgpu comp.ai:1092 sci.lang:1619

In article <2819@bcsaic.UUCP> rwojcik@bcsaic.UUCP (Rick Wojcik) writes:
< ....  The problem is that adults can't "master" foreign
< languages (i.e. learn to speak with undetectable accents).  The
< threshold for phonology is puberty, and the threshold for syntax is
< (less clearly) post-adolescence.

I'm not sure that I agree with this.  I now some people who do seem to
have "crystalized", and can't learn new languages very well at all.
On the other hand, I also know many adults who can learn language
after language, after... to a point of _fluency_ (inc. robust
phonetic, phonological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic
understanding).  Could you give a citation or two?

		-- Paul