Here's why:
* Poverty of the stimulus: Children acquire language remarkably fast and effortlessly, despite being exposed to incomplete and sometimes grammatically incorrect input. This suggests that there's more to language acquisition than just mimicking what they hear.
* Creativity: Children can produce novel sentences they've never heard before, demonstrating an understanding of grammatical rules beyond mere imitation.
* Universal grammar: There are inherent, universal properties of language that seem to be innate in humans, suggesting a biological basis for language acquisition.
* Critical period: Language acquisition is most successful during early childhood. This supports the idea of a biologically determined time frame for language development.
While reinforcement plays a role in language acquisition, it's not the sole driver. It's more accurate to say that children learn language through a combination of factors:
* Social interaction: Engaging in conversations, asking questions, and interacting with caregivers provides crucial input and feedback.
* Innate capacity: Humans are born with an innate ability to learn language, enabling them to process and extract linguistic patterns from their environment.
* Cognitive development: As children's brains mature, they develop the cognitive skills needed for language understanding and production.
* Exposure to language: Hearing and experiencing language in various contexts is essential for language development.
Therefore, language acquisition is a complex process involving multiple factors, including innate abilities, social interaction, and cognitive development. While reinforcement plays a role, it's not the only or even the primary mechanism driving this process.