Contrary to the popular and generally unquestioned belief, language isn't taught. It isn't even learned. Instead, language grows in the mind the way physical organs grow in the body. In fact, we can regard the mind as a system of mental organs, which includes the faculty of language. So argues the famed linguist Noam Chomsky in this 1977 interview.
Behind the paywall below, I provide annotations and related sources for DaaS subscribers, but I also recommend this video to any non-subscribers interested in:
The biology of language and the interplay between the preprogramming of the language faculty and the capacity for creative thought.
Chomsky's challenge to tabula rasa behaviorist conceptions of language acquisition.
The enduring influence of behaviorism.
The metaphors we live by.
The delusion of language.
The symbol grounding problem as the “hard problem of meaning”.
The grounding of moral philosophy.
The rules of specific languages vs. the principles of Universal Grammar (UG).