Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 20:05:29 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199711010105.UAA10015@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: Chris Bogart Sender: Lojban list From: Chris Bogart Subject: Kids learning Lojban X-To: Lojban List To: John Cowan In-Reply-To: <199710302146.OAA06005@indra.com> X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 Content-Length: 1315 Lines: 23 > > >Someone has to risk fucking their progeny up first. I'm curious if anyone here thinks this is a serious risk. Certainly one's progeny would be pretty malselgle if they were deliberately kept isolated from any exposure to natlangs -- they'd have to be raised in a basement and sleep on a mattress with the tag torn off (it has English on it!). But seriously, it has happened that kids have grown up with only exposure to unnatural languages; like Signed English or pidgins; and as I understand it they naturally flesh it out into something usable. Do kids ever learn *2* languages at home at the same time? Friends of my dad tried raising their boy speaking 3 languages at once: the two parents were from different parts of India and lived in the US, and each would talk to the kid in both their own language and English. They panicked when the kid started mixing the three freely, and switched to all-English. Wouldn't he have straightened it out eventually? Can't "code-switchers" switch off the switching when speaking to a monoglot? If that's been shown to happen, it seems like this would calm the fears of parents trying this with Lojban. English would be "enough" for their mental development, and Lojban could only add to it, if it had any effect at all. co'o mi'e kris