What is the primary assertion of Eric Lenneberg's 'Critical Period Hypothesis' in language acquisition?
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Correct answer: A biological window ending around puberty in which native-level language must be acquired
The Critical Period Hypothesis claims that human language acquisition relies on neuroplasticity that diminishes as the brain matures around puberty. If a child is not exposed to a linguistic environment during this biological window, achieving native-level syntactic fluency becomes exceptionally difficult, if not impossible. This has been documented through studies of feral children and late-exposed deaf individuals.
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