The low frequency of use of many of the irregular verbs in English and their restriction to activities mostly not talked about at home ensures, as Pinker correctly points out, that they are not part of the "unbroken line of continuous speech" that you write about. My ancestors trace back through the paternal line to English speakers for as far back in history as you can go and still find speakers of English. And the last few generations of my family have included college-educated English majors who were very fussy about proper rules of English grammar. But none of that passed on to me in living speech the "correct" (irregular, or "strong") forms of some of the irregular verbs in English. The attested historical process, as Pinker correctly writes, is that the category of "strong" verbs in English and in other Germanic languages has shrunk over time.

For onlookers, I should list here the English irregular verbs. All of you will see for yourselves how rarely used some of them are, and how unlikely it is that a child would learn them from home conversation. Others, of course, the ones we all know, are the ones Pinker thinks will last indefinitely. The ones with alternate forms shown are likely to become regular sooner, I think.

Abide	Abode/Abided	Abode/Abided/Abidden	Abides	Abiding

Alight	Alit/Alighted	Alit/Alighted	Alights	Alighting

Arise	Arose	Arisen	Arises	Arising

Awake	Awoke	Awoken	Awakes	Awaking

Be	Was/Were	Been	Is	Being

Bear	Bore	Born/Borne	Bears	Bearing

Beat	Beat	Beaten	Beats	Beating

Become	Became	Become	Becomes	Becoming

Begin	Began	Begun	Begins	Beginning

Behold	Beheld	Beheld	Beholds	Beholding

Bend	Bent	Bent	Bends	Bending

Bet	Bet	Bet	Bets	Betting

Bid	Bade	Bidden	Bids	Bidding

Bid	Bid	Bid	Bids	Bidding

Bind	Bound	Bound	Binds	Binding

Bite	Bit	Bitten	Bites	Biting

Bleed	Bled	Bled	Bleeds	Bleeding

Blow	Blew	Blown	Blows	Blowing

Break	Broke	Broken	Breaks	Breaking

Breed	Bred	Bred	Breeds	Breeding

Bring	Brought	Brought	Brings	Bringing

Build	Built	Built	Builds	Building

Burn	Burnt/Burned	Burnt/Burned	Burns	Burning

Burst	Burst	Burst	Bursts	Bursting

Bust	Bust	Bust	Busts	Busting

Buy	Bought	Bought	Buys	Buying

Cast	Cast	Cast	Casts	Casting

Catch	Caught	Caught	Catches	Catching

Choose	Chose	Chosen	Chooses	Choosing

Clap	Clapped/Clapt	Clapped/Clapt	Claps	Clapping

Cling	Clung	Clung	Clings	Clinging

Clothe	Clad/Clothed	Clad/Clothed	Clothes	Clothing

Come	Came	Come	Comes	Coming

Cost	Cost	Cost	Costs	Costing

Creep	Crept	Crept	Creeps	Creeping

Cut	Cut	Cut	Cuts	Cutting

Dare	Dared/Durst	Dared	Dares	Daring

Deal	Dealt	Dealt	Deals	Dealing

Dig	Dug	Dug	Digs	Digging

Dive	Dived/Dove	Dived	Dives	Diving

Do	Did	Done	Does	Doing

Draw	Drew	Drawn	Draws	Drawing

Dream	Dreamt/Dreamed	Dreamt/Dreamed	Dreams	Dreaming

Drink	Drank	Drunk	Drinks	Drinking

Drive	Drove	Driven	Drives	Driving

Dwell	Dwelt	Dwelt	Dwells	Dwelling

Eat	Ate	Eaten	Eats	Eating

[edit: the full list is just too darn long, but you'll get the idea from the beginning and end of the alphabet]

Make	Made	Made	Makes	Making

Mean	Meant	Meant	Means	Meaning

Meet	Met	Met	Meets	Meeting

Melt	Melted	Molten/Melted	Melts	Melting

Mislead	Misled	Misled	Misleads	Misleading

Mistake	Mistook	Mistaken	Mistakes	Mistaking

Mow	Mowed	Mown	Mows	Mowing

Pay	Paid	Paid	Pays	Paying

Preset	Preset	Preset	Presets	Presetting

Prove	Proved	Proven/Proved	Proves	Proving

Put	Put	Put	Puts	Putting

Quit	Quit	Quit	Quits	Quitting

Read	Read	Read	Reads	Reading

Rid	Rid/Ridded	Rid/Ridded	Rids	Ridding

Ride	Rode	Ridden	Rides	Riding

Ring	Rang	Rung	Rings	Ringing

Rise	Rose	Risen	Rises	Rising

Rive	Rived	Riven/Rived	Rives	Riving

Run	Ran	Run	Runs	Running

Saw	Sawed	Sawn/Sawed	Saws	Sawing

Say	Said	Said	Says	Saying

See	Saw	Seen	Sees	Seeing

Seek	Sought	Sought	Seeks	Seeking

Sell	Sold	Sold	Sells	Selling

Send	Sent	Sent	Sends	Sending

Set	Set	Set	Sets	Setting

Sew	Sewed	Sewn/Sewed	Sews	Sewing

Shake	Shook	Shaken	Shakes	Shaking

Shave	Shaved	Shaven/Shaved	Shaves	Shaving

Shear	Shore/Sheared	Shorn/Sheared	Shears	Shearing

Shed	Shed	Shed	Sheds	Shedding

Shine	Shone	Shone	Shines	Shining

Shoe	Shod	Shod	Shoes	Shoeing

Shoot	Shot	Shot	Shoots	Shooting

Show	Showed	Shown	Shows	Showing

Shrink	Shrank	Shrunk	Shrinks	Shrinking

Shut	Shut	Shut	Shuts	Shutting

Sing	Sang	Sung	Sings	Singing

Sink	Sank	Sunk	Sinks	Sinking

Sit	Sat	Sat	Sits	Sitting

Slay	Slew	Slain	Slays	Slaying

Sleep	Slept	Slept	Sleeps	Sleeping

Slide	Slid	Slid/Slidden	Slides	Sliding

Sling	Slung	Slung	Slings	Slinging

Slink	Slunk	Slunk	Slinks	Slinking

Slit	Slit	Slit	Slits	Slitting

Smell	Smelt/Smelled	Smelt/Smelled	Smells	Smelling

Sneak	Sneaked/Snuck	Sneaked/Snuck	Sneaks	Sneaking

Sow	Sowed	Sown	Sows	Sowing

Speak	Spoke	Spoken	Speaks	Speaking

Speed	Sped/Speeded	Sped/Speeded	Speeds	Speeding

Spell	Spelt/Spelled	Spelt/Spelled	Spells	Spelling

Spend	Spent	Spent	Spends	Spending

Spill	Spilt/Spilled	Spilt/Spilled	Spills	Spilling

Spin	Span/Spun	Spun	Spins	Spinning

Spit	Spat/Spit	Spat/Spit	Spits	Spitting

Split	Split	Split	Splits	Splitting

Spoil	Spoilt/Spoiled	Spoilt/Spoiled	Spoils	Spoiling

Spread	Spread	Spread	Spreads	Spreading

Spring	Sprang	Sprung	Springs	Springing

Stand	Stood	Stood	Stands	Standing

Steal	Stole	Stolen	Steals	Stealing

Stick	Stuck	Stuck	Sticks	Sticking

Sting	Stung	Stung	Stings	Stinging

Stink	Stank	Stunk	Stinks	Stinking

Stride	Strode/Strided	Stridden	Strides	Striding

Strike	Struck	Struck/Stricken	Strikes	Striking

String	Strung	Strung	Strings	Stringing

Strip	Stript/Stripped	Stript/Stripped	Strips	Stripping

Strive	Strove	Striven	Strives	Striving

Swear	Swore	Sworn	Swears	Swearing

Sweat	Sweat/Sweated	Sweat/Sweated	Sweats	Sweating

Sweep	Swept/Sweeped	Swept/Sweeped	Sweeps	Sweeping

Swell	Swelled	Swollen	Swells	Swelling

Swim	Swam	Swum	Swims	Swimming

Swing	Swung	Swung	Swings	Swinging

Take	Took	Taken	Takes	Taking

Teach	Taught	Taught	Teaches	Teaching

Tear	Tore	Torn	Tears	Tearing

Tell	Told	Told	Tells	Telling

Think	Thought	Thought	Thinks	Thinking

Thrive	Throve/Thrived	Thriven/Thrived	Thrives	Thriving

Throw	Threw	Thrown	Throws	Throwing

Thrust	Thrust	Thrust	Thrusts	Thrusting

Tread	Trod	Trodden	Treads	Treading

Vex	Vext/Vexed	Vext/Vexed	Vexes	Vexing

Wake	Woke	Woken	Wakes	Waking

Wear	Wore	Worn	Wears	Wearing

Weave	Wove	Woven	Weaves	Weaving

Wed	Wed/Wedded	Wed/Wedded	Weds	Wedding

Weep	Wept	Wept	Weeps	Weeping

Wend	Wended/Went	Wended/Went	Wends	Wending

Wet	Wet/Wetted	Wet/Wetted	Wets	Wetting

Win	Won	Won	Wins	Winning

Wind	Wound	Wound	Winds	Winding

Wring	Wrung	Wrung	Wrings	Wringing

Write	Wrote	Written	Writes	Writing