The document discusses several topics related to linguistics including the core design features of human language, linguistic competencies, language acquisition stages in children, brain areas involved in language processing, and factors that influence language dialects. It notes that human language is unique in its ability to displace messages from context, be stimulus free, and be productive through rules of morphology and syntax. The stages of language acquisition in children progress from involuntary babbling to two-word sentences to telegraphic speech and eventual fluency by age 3-4. Dialects vary based on geography, subculture, age, class and gender.