Choomsky's Theory Of UG

There are 4 theoretical perspectives. The different theoretical perspectives vary in their focus on the role of nature and nurture as well as the emphasis on one or more of the five aspects of language knowledge. Throughout this chapter, the focus will be on recognizing how nature and nurture interact and can be related. It provides a framework for understanding the complex ways children develop language as they interact with people and objects in their environment, school and home

All language theorists acknowledge nature and nurture both play significant roles in children’s language development. However, the theoretical debate to whether nature or nurture is the dominant tool during a child’s language

Nature and nurture both play a significant role in language development. Language development refers to how children understand, organise, speak and use words in order to communicate at an effective, age-appropriate level (Karen Kearns, 2013, P.105). For centuries, theorists have been debating the roles of nature versus nurture. Although, each child’s language will develop at their own pace and there will be many individual differences based on culture, ethnicity, health and ability. As well as physical, social, emotional and cognitive development in which will contribute to a child’s language development.

First, children¡¯s acquisition of language is an innate mechanism that enables a child to analyze language and extract the basic rules of grammar, granted by Chomsky. It basically states that humans are born with a language acquisition device that, the ability to learn a language rapidly as children. However, there is one important controversy in language acquisition concerns how we acquire language; since Chomsky fails to adequately explain individual differences. From the behaviorists¡¯ perspectives, the language is learned like other learned behaviors. It is learned through operant

He makes an important hypothesis that universal grammar (UG). UG is a characterization of these innate principle of language faculty, I-language. (5) He then postulates some detailed structure of UG. It is a system of conditions on grammars, constraints on the form and interpretation of grammar at all levels, from the deep structures of syntax, through the transformational component, to the rules that interpret syntactic structures semantically and phonetically. The study of linguistic universals, which is classified as formal or substantive, is the study of the properties of UG for a natural language. (6) Substantive universals concern the vocabulary for the description of language and a formal linguistic universal involve the character of the rules that appear in grammars and the ways in which they can be interconnected. Language-acquisition device uses primary linguistic data as the empirical basis for language learning to meet explanatory adequacy that is defined in UG, and to select one of the potential grammars, which is permitted by UG.

Lifespan development is a field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability in behavior that occur throughout the entire life span. The purpose of field being that one can determine the average maturation levels both physically and mentally in humans being born today (Feldman, 2006). This paper will delve into the human development of a twenty-one year old fictional character named Sara Jones, in a way that is similar to people who are living today. Sara’s life will be explained and discussed from prenatal development through newborn and preschool up until middle childhood and adolescence. Although she is a fictional character her stages of development will be presented in a way that is probable for a young

However, it can be argued with (Bruner 1964) that social interaction doesn’t explain all the complexities of language acquisition. Almost every day the language we hear is often incorrect, poorly defined, incomplete and full of hesitations, mispronunciations and other errors, and yet despite this we still learn to talk following the correct grammatical rules. Again this indicates the idea of Chomsky’s (1968) LAD model that children are born ‘hard-wired’ with the innate knowledge of linguistic rules and so these rules help the baby make estimations and presumptions about the language it is hearing. From these estimations and presumption the child can work out grammatical sets of rules and when more language is exposed to them, the more their language develops. Even within Chomsky’s (1968) LAD theory, undoubtedly he believed the role and promotion of the ‘nature’ aspect is the core foundation on which language can develop. But his theory also requires the role of nurture

According to Noam Chomsky, everyone is born with a “universal grammar”. This “universal grammar” makes us interpret how people speak. We are born with a universal moral grammar. This makes us analyze human actions. We determine whether their actions are “right” or “wrong” without even knowing we are doing so. An example that proves this is when toddles offer their toys, help others, and try to comfort people that they notice are upset.

2) Teachers will find Universal Grammar to be useful as knowing similarities in languages make identifying differences easier. For example, all languages have subjects, verbs, objects but knowing the different order in some languages is helpful to ESL teachers.

These days, language is very important in today’s world. Technically, language is vital to every single aspect in human beings. Language is also very interesting to explore as well as the rules or grammar. Although language is important for us, but some people argued that some languages have no grammar at all. However, on the other hand, Winifred Bauer (1998) on her discovery and strong opinions and evidence in Language Myth 10: Some Language Have No Grammar that every language must have rules or grammar to communicate with others.

There are several theories regarding language development. Work by Chomsky, Piaget and Kuhl are critical. Studies by Chomsky, as examined by Albery, Chandler, Field, Jones, Messer, Moore and Sterling (2009); Deloache, Eisenberg & Siegler (2003) argued for the innateness of language acquisition due to its complexity. Development is assisted by a language acquisition device (LAD) and universal grammar both of which holding the propensity for commonalities throughout all languages. LAD is the key to the Syntax rule. The knowledge to master the rules is held unconsciously. Chomsky concludes exposure through auditory channels as being the only requirement for learning. Arguably Kuhl (2010) writes infantile exposure to language through auditory channels only, does not contribute effectively to learning indicating the importance of human interaction. Piaget, as discussed by Ault (1977) postulated language as not being part of the earliest stages of development. Signifying within sensorimotor stage, between birth and two years, the child’s development is too reflexive. Gleitman, Fridlund and Reisberg (2004) discuss the critical period hypothesis and suggest the young brain being more suited to acquisition than the adult brain. Lenneberg (1967) (as cited in Gleitman et al 2004) advocates, brain maturation closes language acquisition capacity window. Kuhl (2010) identified, within the critical period babies develop

I have chosen Ewa Dabrowska’s 2015 journal article, ‘What exactly is Universal Grammar and has anyone seen it? I am using this area of study within Language and Communication to argue how children acquire language. In the article, Dabrowska argues that there is little agreement on what Universal Grammar (UG) actually is and what it contains. She states that there is only agreement that proponents of UG exist, leading her to look for specific existence for linguistic innate knowledge. Dabrowska further argues that arguments for UG are either irrelevant, false or unsupported by evidence. Dabrowska’s looks at number of arguments for UG; in particular - ‘universality’, ‘convergence’ and ‘poverty of the stimulus’ – which she believes to be the most

Humans who began to learn language would find it easier to survive and then pass on their language to their children and so on. Therefore Darwin’s theory does not support Chomsky’s claim of humans having an innate predisposal to acquire languages as he believed it was something that has evolved and then been developed over time, not something that has always been present in our genetics.

Linguistics has impacted cognitive psychology as the quest to understand language acquisition and the structure of language itself is undertaken. Linguistics is a complex and multifaceted; it includes language structural patterns and language development (Barsalou, 2005). The process of language development is complicated and dense, as the study of language is examined; the role of cognition is inherently examined and analyzed. Sternberg (2006) also explores language as an innate process and presents the idea that humans are born ready for language as a biological and cognitive process.

Modern day linguistics has seen the arrival of many different viewpoints of language. Beginning with Noam Chomsky, unquestionably one of the most influential figures in recent linguistics, new theories and ideas have been introduced at a rapid rate. In part due to his status as a revitalizer in the field, but also due to his often controversial theories, Chomsky maintains a place at the center of this discussion. His search for a universal grammar and criticism of pure descriptivism have informed generations of research. Much of this has been reactionary against him, but his influence can not be discounted. His theories of a universal grammar have inspired writers on both sides of the debate. Paul Hopper argues against this view, positing