The programming talent myth

> Yes, the human brain does seem to have a particular affinity to language. I suspect that it because the languages we use are tuned (possibly by non-biological evolution) to the particular abilities of our brains.

The particular language is almost certainly non-biological evolution. Studies of bi-lingual children (ie two parents with different native languages) show that a child's preferred language correlates with abilities associated with that language.

The example I am thinking of is that French has strict rules as to where in a sentence, a leading or trailing consonant may "jump words". English couldn't care less. So when asked to listen for a given sound at the end of a word, a child who prefers English will spot it regardless of whether the consonant has jumped. A child who prefers French will be slower at spotting it if the consonant has jumped the "wrong" way. Note that there is no correlation whatsoever with whether the mother or father has that native language.

Cheers,
Wol