Linguistic Assumptions

Language is a shared set of assumptions of the subjective meaning of sounds people utter and symbols they scribble.  By themselves, those sounds and symbols mean nothing, but when people share the same assumptions of the meaning of those sounds and symbols, the people effectively communicate. For instance, if I utter a series of sounds, intending to share a thought, and you hear the same series of sounds and assume that they mean exactly what I intended them to mean, then we have effectively communicated with the spoken language. Likewise, if you scribble or type some symbols in the form of words with the intent of sharing a thought, and I look at those symbols and assume that it means what you meant to share, then we have effectively communicated with the written language.  We are able to communicate only because we share linguistic assumptions of  similar sounds and symbols. In other words, we communicate using the same language. When people do not share similar linguistic assumptions, they are not able to communicate with language.

Adults who strive to learn a foreign language must develop a new set of linguistic assumptions that the native speakers of that language share among themselves. These linguistic assumptions include not only the single words but also the way those words are arranged inside the phrase or sentence and how the words should sound when spoken.  Thus, adult foreign language learners must learn the grammar and syntax of the foreign language if they hope to learn how to properly communicate in the language. Unlike children who develop their native language as they acquire their first set of assumptions, adults must learn a new set of linguistic assumptions that will differ from their old, native linguistic assumptions they acquired as children. This language learning journey includes lessons on grammar and syntax early on in the learning process.