  To be sure, many theorists have recognized the crucial part played by language in our lives, and have speculated about the (syntactic  and/or semantic) properties of language that enable it to play that  role. However, few had much to say about the properties of  us in virtue of which we can learn and use a natural language.  To the extent that philosophers before the 20th century dealt with  language acquisition at all, they tended to see it as a product of  our general ability to reason — an ability that makes us  special, and that sets us apart from other animals, but that is not  tailored for language learning in particular.