allthingslinguistic:skunkbear:Your mother tongue has a lasting effect on your brain — even if you ca
allthingslinguistic:skunkbear:Your mother tongue has a lasting effect on your brain — even if you can’t remember it. That’s according to a new study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital and McGill University’s Department of Psychology.It’s hard to say exactly what this means for our understanding of language acquisition, but it’s an incredible reminder that our first few months of life are so important for our brain development.MRI images: Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill UniversityTitle image: Moonchilde-StruckMy first question on seeing this was to wonder what would happen if people with “lost” languages tried to re-learn the same language later in life. Fortunately, thelingspace has an answer for us: previous studies have shown that heritage speakers tend to be better at re-learning especially the sounds of a language they’ve had previous exposure too, although it’s not necessarily a huge advantage for words or syntax. -- source link