Outlines on Language Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.

Chomsky  Chomsky focused on the nature of human language. When do children begin to understand their first words? Simple sentences? Adding elements of grammar?

How do children acquire language?  Theories of language acquisition B. F. Skinner Problems with the behavioral theories Rules of language

Common Language Mistakes  We goed to the movies.  The doggy bited me.

The fact is….  There is mounting evidence that children produce sentences they’ve never heard before and continue producing them in the absence of reinforcers.

Chomsky  Language isn’t learned from the environment.  Might language be hardwired? In our DNA?  The role of Universal language. A Seed language that gets inherited through the genes. This seed language leads to past, present, and future languages of the world.

Communication  Underlying level = deep structure Rooted at the level of the seed language Has some unknown form  Expressed level = surface structure Form we actually produce when we put ideas into words

Communication  How do we convert the deep structure into the surface structure whenever we speak?  How do we convert the surface structure into the deep structure whenever we listen? Chomsky thought: there must be some set of rules we follow & those rules must unconsciously allow the conversion.

Chomsky  Chomsky theorized: children learn the rules of their language for converting deep structures to surface structures.  How do children do this?  The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) Biological organ Detects linguistic features or principles of language

Arguments against Chomsky  Children do learn language by rewards and punishments  Parents’ style of interacting  Language not uniquely human  Where is this language acquisition devise?