The Acquisition of Language

The first 200 words of this essay...

The Acquisition of Language

By Rajat Passy

Word Count: 1830

Theories of language acquisition should clearly be evaluated in terms of how adequately they predict and explain the behaviour that is observed. Despite the fact that a detailed description of language acquisition has not yet been obtained (Lucy, 1992), a lengthy and controversial discussion has taken place in the literature concerning theoretical explanations of children's language acquisition and development. In this essay, only a brief summary of the three major models will be put forward, which will allow us to review some of the principal questions still to be empirically answered: why do children acquire language; how do they go about acquiring it; and, what is it that they acquire?

The systematic study of language acquisition began in the late 1950's, around the time when cognitive science was in its developmental stage. Chomsky's (1959) 'Review of Skinner's Verbal Behaviour' ruthlessly attacked the prevailing consensus - the mind consists of sensorimotor abilities with a few general laws of learning which control gradual changes in the organisms behaviour. Therefore, language must be learned and since verbal behaviour is the only manifestation of thought that can be