HUMAN COLONY FORMATION 



man, all one is really saying is, that the ability to learn 

 language constitutes part of his genetically determined 

 makeup. If (there are a few cases on record) a child 

 grows up wild, or is brought up by animals, no real 

 language develops. Children who are brought up in a 

 group, but hardly ever come in contact with human 

 language, develop out of their babbling only the most 

 primitive kind of vocal communication. On the other 

 hand, animals brought up among human beings de- 

 velop no language whatsoever. 



From these considerations it must be concluded that 

 the ability to master language is rooted in man's 

 biological structure, but that language itself is socially 

 acquired. The existence of the proper organic and 

 nervous equipment is consequently a necessary but not 

 a sufficient condition. Language must also be learned. 

 This dual individually-biological and social root of 

 language throws some light along the path of develop- 

 ment which apparently is taken during the period of 

 formation of a societal organism, such as human so- 

 ciety is in the process of developing into. Here, instead 

 of external environment alone acting as the survival- 

 determining selector of genetic mutations, the internal 

 environment becomes increasingly important as the 

 selector. To explain just how this may have worked 

 with language, one may reason in the following 

 fashion: In a herd which depends to a considerable ex- 

 tent upon mutual signals, a mutant change in any one 



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