Language and Genetics..

Discussion in 'General' started by Flemian, Feb 9, 2011.

  1. A stoners theory:

    Your genes carry on information from your ancestry.


    So I was think that since I have French ancestry (My moms, father was half part French) that it would be a little easier for Me to learn French over Spanish since My genetics have been exposed to that language in the past. If your instincts stem from the experiances that our early ancesters had then why should language be far fetched?
     
  2. Reminds me of Assassins Creed haha.

    I can believe that though, you mean like how my ancestors spoke Finnish so if I decided to learn Finnish, it would be just like the instinct to learn to walk, or... just something natural. I getchya.
     
  3. To the Animus!
     
  4. Yeah dude way to think! :smoke:
     
  5. #6 bonghits14, Feb 9, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 9, 2011
    How would you measure this theory? If i take a baby from japan the day it's born, and raise it in america, it's gonna learn perfect english. Then, let's say one day I try teach the baby japenese. It's not just gonna be like 'ah damn this shit is easy', it's gonna have dificulty learning the language. Not because of genetics, but because of culture. It was raised english, therefore learning japenese would be hard (just as learning ojibwe or punjabi would be hard). And, how would you prove that it has an easier time learning one language over another? You would have to teach the child countless languages and control all sorts of variables.
     
  6. I don't think so...every language just sounds impossible for me to learn
     

  7. Ya. I agree with you, I think it's definitely nurture over nature in this case. I don't see how a preference to a certain language can be stored genetically...I could be wrong though. It's Punjabi btw.
     
  8. i said punjabi;)
     
  9. I highly doubt, unless you have been exposed to the language previously, that you would have a much easier time learning the language per say. Although once learned I bet due to your heritage that the ability to speak it more clearly is a definite possibility. I think this because after years of speaking a certain way muscles in your throat will build differently to adjust. Just my thoughts.
     
  10. Cool idea but we've learned that acquired traits are not passed into your genome. No one is born with language; it is learned through experience. Your DNA is never changed from the time you are conceived. Learning any skill or acquiring any trait will not be passed onto your offspring. The scientist who believed the opposite - that acquired traits are passed on to offspring - was Jean-Baptiste Lamarck - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. He was proven wrong by Francis Galton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
     
  11. Right, and its descendants should be able to learn English easier, since it learned English. Has nothing to do with your ethnicity or where you're born, probably has to do with epigenetic tags that actually CAN be influenced by one's environment. There have been studies that show one's diet can influence future generations, where a famine causes the future generations to become obese. The actual genetic info isn't changed, so your Japanese baby stays Japanese but it's epigenetic tags are somehow influenced by its ancestors to more easily learn English.

    We went over these tags in a bio class I had taken, some people think they should live better lives so their descendants are somehow better off. I'm one of the people who thinks I'm gonna be long dead so WTF do I care :smoke:
     
  12. Hmmm seems like some blades agree and others disagree. Idk, I was listening to someone speak French and it just sounded more natural and comforing to My ears then when I hear Spanish or Dutch even (got a friend who's father is from holland). So it got Me thinking.
     
  13. Interesting. If there is such a mechanism, methinks language is too recent an invention for noticeable difference. I can't remember whom, but somebody had a similar idea with other species... ie you would be naturally inclined to be afraid of a tiger then a rabbit.
     
  14. the ability to speak and assign things a certain sound that we call a name and advanced cognition and displacement are inherent. however specific languages are not coded anywhere in our genes.
     
  15. i know these theories, people make them up somewhere, then they trickle down the system, passed on from person to person, generation to generation,

    until the original theory that was started finds itself within the midst of a forum


    :)
     

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