By contrast, not everyone becomes proficient at complex mathematical reasoning, few people learn to paint well, and many people cannot carry a tune.
It is wrong, however, to exaggerate the similarity between language and other cognitive skills, because language stands apart in several ways.
Because everyone is capable of learning to speak and understand language, it may seem to be simple.
For one thing, the use of language is universal-all normally developing children learn to speak at least one language and may learn more than one.
But just the opposite is true-language is one of the most complexes of all human cognitive abilities.
