It's amazing that most humans live as long as they do. Giraffe calves tumble out of the womb and are walking minutes later, yet we can't fend for ourselves for years.

We eventually become more resourceful, although it helps to have people around us to model both behavior and language.

Which leads to a recent question I've been asking myself: In isolation, how does a language learner figure out how to express something they have not learned how to express?