language acquisition

When reading these articles, I tend to agree more with the notion that children are born with an innate ability to acquire language. This however is obviously contingent on their surroundings. Children at a young age absorb almost everything they hear and see. I agree with the article "Mamma teached me to talk" that rather than repeat the words back , they somehow create their own rules for using the words they heard. Thinking back on some young children that I know, they often put words together that have meaning behind them. They never put together two random words together or more accurately, I can't remember every hearing them put two random words together. Since the combination of words is not specifically taught, it must be an innate development of the child. I also agree that there is a critical period in which children acquire language. From personal experience, I noticed that the older I got, the more difficult it was for me to learn a new language. I first arrived in the us when I was around 4 years old. I did not know a word of English, only Taiwanese (my native language). From that age on, I started to learn English which looking back wasn't that difficult. Once I became proficient with English, my parents thought that I should learn Mandarin Chinese and enrolled me into a Chinese school at around 10 or 11. This was one of the hardest things I had to do and to this day, I can't speak more than a couple of words.
To sum up, the acquisition of language is a combination of both nature and nurture. Children learn languages by their surroundings however, there is an ability to translate their surroundings into a meaningful language. This is refined and developed as time progresses until it becomes almost identical to the population.
Reading can help in the acquisition of language. Written words, symbols, pictures, etc. can help children connect speech with the things they see. However, I do not think it is absolutely necessary. Does it help, certainly it does but can you develop language without reading, I believe so. I personally can speak and understand Taiwanese however, I can not read one word of it. I can't remember how I learned to speak Taiwanese but what I can remember is never learning the written language of Chinese (Chinese has many dialects, but one written language). I think the skill of reading can only come after language has been developed. Children can only read after they learn to speak. While reading can help in the development of articulating their speech, reading begins only after they have mastered the basics of language.