My critical view about Chomsky’s First Language
Acquisition theory
Chomsky’s First Language Acquisition theory was
a controversial theory through the late sixties. After several studies his theory
was quite accepted.Chomsky's research and
influence on linguistics changed and modernized the discipline. For many years there
has been a battle among linguists as to whether language acquisition is innate
or learned. Chomsky argues that language acquisition is an innate structure, or
function, of the human brain.
Although it is known that there are structures
of the brain that control the interpretation and production of speech, it was
not clear as to how humans acquired language ability, both in its interpretive
sense and its production. This is where Noam Chomsky made his contribution.
There are a few factors that Chomsky has used to support his theory of
language acquisition. First, the child does not need a trigger to begin
language acquisition, it happens on its own. The parent does not need to coax
the child to speak, if he or she is around language production, the child will
work to produce that language on its own. Several things may help the child
develop faster, such as the parent producing baby talk, or being read to on a
consistent basis. But these things only have a small effect, and if they are
not done, the child will still eventually learn to speak without them.
Another factor found is that it does not matter if a child is corrected;
he or she still grasp the language in the same manner and speak the same way.
During one stage, a child will make things plural that are already plural. For
example, a child will say geeses instead of geese. It does not matter how many
times a child is corrected, the child still says geeses. In one documented
case, a child, after being corrected several times by the mother to say feet
instead of feets, looked at the mother, said "ohh," as if she
understood and then proceeded to say feets.
Another
important feature is that children go through stages of language acquisition in
which they learn certain parts of the language. They all go through these
stages approximately the same time, around the same age. A child in China will
follow the same linguistic patterns of language acquisition as a child in the
United States. It is with these observations, along with knowledge about
neurological structures that control linguistic communication and interpretation
that Chomsky argues that language is innately organized.
According to Chomsky´s theory, Universal Grammar is constructed
with a number of universal principles. One of the most significant principles
is structure dependency. This principle states that every sentence in every
language must have at least a subject and a verb. What distinguish one language
from another are the parameters. For instance, one parameter in the LAD is head
setting. For example, some languages such as English are head first; others
such as Japanese are head last.
Several arguments have been used to support the existence of Universal
Grammar. For example, Chomsky opposed Skinner’s theory of language acquisition.
Skinner believes that the acquisition of a language is throughout the input
children receive, which is positively or negatively reinforced. In response to
that, Chomsky has proposed the poverty of stimulus arguments, stating that the
input children receive cannot be the reason for the language children produce.
For instance, how do children acquire a language when they don’t know what they
can’t say? How do they learn to speak correctly when the input they
receive is sometimes incorrect? According to Chomsky, they do so through an
innate capacity. Considering the previous debate, I believe that the only
possible explanation is innateness. I strongly agree with Chomsky’s idea of
universal grammar.
To conclude, despite the strong arguments against Chomsky’s theory of language
acquisition, I find his theory the most tenable one I have studied. I support
innatism and its principles and parameters theory. Apart from the sound logical
basis of the theory I have been able to witness the language acquisition process
of my own children. They were able to say words that they had never heard
by the simple exposure to the language. Another reason to support this theory
is that it has been proved that particular languages such as American Sign
Language also have their own language structure which enables deaf children to
acquire a language. Chomsky’s work about language is one of the most
significant theories in the history of language.
