Learning language

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Abstract

Interpreting what you hear through the medium of speech sounds is in many ways just like interpreting what you see through the medium of the structured light that strikes your eyes. Understanding descriptive speech is closely akin to perception of the world through vision, ordinary hearing or touch. This, plus a flexible view of the different ways in which one mind can take account of another, helps to explain how children can learn tens of thousands of words without special instruction and without requiring a 'theory of mind.'