Isn't this a variant of the nature v nurture debate? Are we products of our DNA or of our upbringing? Is language a product of the world we live in or the society we inhabit?

Both debates are of limited value because they depend on the existence of a boundary that only exists in our highly nurtured, language-using heads.

We nurture based on our nature, which is based on the world around us, which is also very much a product of our own nature. It's a bootstrap kind of thing. We build the world that builds us.

Same with language. It's a back and forth proposition. Experience influences our language which influences our experience.

Thanks for the read!