In contrast Chomsky argues that language acquisition is an innate biological ability that is common amongst all humans. He initially based his ideas on his own observations of children informally. Chomsky says, “Children do not build grammars primarily from the evidence they hear, but according to an inner design - a genetic program” (Chomsky, 1972, p.171; 1980, pp 232-234). He claimed that each child has a biological predisposition to learn a language fluently; this is formerly known as the Language Acquisition Device or LAD. Within this LAD there exists a system of ‘Universal Grammar’, an innate knowledge system which enables children to automatically know the general form any language must take. Furthermore Chomsky claimed that within this LAD, there consisted a set of rules defined as ‘generative grammar’ which assist the child in the construction of correct grammatical sentences. Thus this process of language acquisition starts from birth. Research suggests that infants begin with slight body movements as a way of responding to speech. By 6 months they start babbling, which then develop into one word utterances at the age of 1 and by the age of 2 this increases to two word utterances. By the age of 3 the child can construct 3 word sentences, and by the age of 6 years the child’s grammar becomes more complex and continues to grow until they reach adult level. During this whole process Chomsky claims that the child is mastering its predisposed rules and transforming them progressively. Hence the “task for young language learners is to discover which particular language community they are in and apply the universal rules of language to that particular version” (Lee and Das Gupta, 1995). Therefore according to Chomsky language development is instantaneous, where the grammatical structures of an adult exists at birth, and that these structures develop and mature like physical growth.
When considering the acquisition of vocabulary, Skinner suggests that the child individually learns words and receives reinforcements for the use of these words. This is supported by Clarke and Stewart 1973 (Clarke-Stewart A (1973) "Interactions between mothers and their young children: characteristics and consequences.") who found that children’s, whose mothers communicated with them regularly, had a much larger vocabulary than children’s whose mothers rarely communicated with them. Chomsky to a certain extent agrees with this idea, as he did propose that a child does attain most of their language from the environment. However he claims that the child may hear words from the environment but the rules from his innate universal grammar helps him/her to transform these newly acquired words and apply it to different contexts.
Both Skinner and Chomsky adopted similar methods of exploration when researching the development of language. They observed children either informally or in a laboratory setting. However it can be argued that their observations weren’t sufficient enough as for example much of Skinner’s observations were based on children who were either developmentally delayed or disturbed and were therefore behind in their speech and language development. Thus “normal children will have great difficulty learning language on the basis of parental conditioning, because parents are such poor language teachers” (Crain. W., Theories of Development). Chomsky can also be criticised on the basis that he conducted only a limited number of informal observations and arguably this is not sufficient to propose a theory of language acquisition. Nonetheless there does seem to be a great deal of empirical support for Chomsky’s ideas.
When looking at the development of grammar both Chomsky and Skinner disagree. Skinner proposed “a finite single word processing system used in sentence interpretation, whereas Chomsky advocated a model involving whole sentence processing using some form of transformational system” (Chomsky vs. Skinner on Language: ). Chomsky claimed children begin to develop grammar at the ages of 2-3 years where they begin putting words together. Progressively the child increases his/her vocabulary and they are able to construct more words. They come to realise that “noun phrases are whole units” (Crain. W., Theories of Development), they also begin to ‘overregularize’ e.g. saying things like ‘I runned’. It is assumed that the child has discovered the rule for past tense and is therefore transforming and applying it to the real world. This development of grammar continues to grow until the child fully acquires grammar. In contrast Skinner proposes that this acquisition of grammar is al learnt via the environment. Guess et al 1968 (Paivo. & Begg: Psychology of Language 1981) found that they were able to teach a mentally retarded girl the correct grammatical utterances using positive reinforcement. Furthermore Holtz et al 1966 (Chomsky vs. Skinner on Language: ) also found that adults who positively reinforced children for the use of certain nouns and plurals resulted in the child increasing their occurrence of correct grammatical responses. Nevertheless there does seem to be very limited evidence supporting such a claim.
The acquisition of language is a very complex process, and cannot be explained merely in terms of the innate principles of universal grammar or to the operant conditioning of parents as there are many factors involved. Chomsky for instance claims that the child from birth possesses an “instantaneous emergence of mature grammar” (Crain. W., Theories of Development), it can be argued that this is too specific as Chomsky it seems is regarding the infants as “miniature adults” where language is concerned. (Crain. W., Theories of Development). Similarly Skinner can be criticised for placing too much emphasis on the environment “linguistic data-however transparent-will never be sufficient for language development” (Harris. M., Language Experience and Early Language Development 1993). Therefore both theories can be criticised for being too specific in their ideas. However on a more positive note both theories have expanded and encouraged the understanding of language development. Subsequently it may be more ideal to adopt an interactionist perspective which would claim that “the course of development will be the outcome of an interaction between the child’s own processing abilities and experience” (Harris. M., Language Experience and Early Language Development 1993). Considering the substantial amount of evidence linked to Chomsky’s research it can be concluded that the concept of innateness plays a more significant role in the acquisition of language than the idea of learning language via operant conditioning. Therefore for this reason the idea of an innate language system is more favourable, but only with the addition of some input from the linguistic environment.
REFERENCES
BOOKS
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Crain. W., (2005) Theories of Development; Concepts and Applications. 5th Edition. Pearson Education Ltd., London.
- Harris, M. (1993). Language Experience and Early Language Development: From Input to Uptake. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd, London.
- Lee. V., & Gupta. P. D,. (1995). Children’s Cognitive and Language Development. Blackwell Publisher’s Ltd, Oxford.
- Paivo. & Begg. (1981). Psychology of Language. Prentice Hall Inc. London.
JOURNALS
- Clarke-Stewart A (1973) "Interactions between mothers and their young children: characteristics and consequences." Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Developmental. 38.
WEBSITES
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Chomsky vs. Skinner on Language:
Viewed: 25/02/2005 at 14:21