chomsky1 by prof. nazir malik
Post on 19-May-2015
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Chomsky’s Innatism
Behaviourist position (Skinner, 1950s)Main behaviourist claim: all learning,
including language learning, is the product of habit formation.
We learn through imitation and repetition.Emphasis on the importance of the
observable in any theory claiming to be scientific (empirical view).
Since only behaviour is observable, we must study learning by observing behaviour patterns.
Behaviourist position
We learn through:Imitation + reinforcement (praise or success in
communication) = habit formation.According to this view Stimulus-Response-
Reinforcement IS the learning mechanism.Language is considered ‘verbal behaviour’.Children practise and repeat what they hear,
and in this way learn their L1.
Who is Chomsky?You’ve probably heard of him alreadyNoam Chomsky, 1928-present, American
Professor in Linguistics at MIT(more famous outside our field as a political
commentator)Chomsky is a syntacticianHis work on syntax led him to believe
language is innateChomsky is a theorist, not an
experimenterBut others have applied his theories
What is Chomsky’s theory?An innatist theory“Nature” over “Nurture”
According to Chomsky, crucial parts of the human language ability are built into the brain – part of our biology, programmed into our genes
Chomsky V Skinner
Remember Skinner?Late 1950s: environment-only theories
of language acquisition in the ascendantChomsky (1959) reviewed Skinner’s
book Verbal BehaviourChomsky found flaws in Skinner’s
mechanismChomsky argued that environment-only
mechanisms couldn’t possibly account for language acquisition
Evidence for Chomskyan innatism (and against environment-only
mechanisms)
How so?
The brain: missing evidence?Neuroscience could be convincing……but our knowledge of the brain is not that
advanced.We cannot see the proposed language
structuresEven if we could, we could not establish
that these structures were innate
CreativityLanguage is CREATIVE
We can produce and understand an infinite range of novel grammatical sentences
Children do not imitate a fixed repertoire of sentences
Chomsky: creativity is not explicable if language is learnt just from the environment
Degeneracy of the dataThe child’s language data is degenerateUngrammatical utterances are frequent
and are not marked out as “wrong”Therefore it is impossible to deduce the
grammar of a language, if your only input data is utterances from the environment
Poverty of the stimulusChomskyan syntax: more complex than
people had previously thought syntax to be!
The grammar of a sentence can’t be deduced from its surface formThe schoolchildren were difficult to teachThe schoolchildren were eager to learn
So environmental language data is insufficient: grammar can’t be learned from it
Misleading feedbackAdults correct children for truth, not
grammaticality… so the feedback data children receive
does not actually tell them how well they are doing
Misleading feedback makes it even harder for children to learn grammar
Evidence from CreolesPidgin: simple language that arise in
contact situationsCreole: a fully complex language
descended from a pidginThe grammar of a Creole is created by
children as they learn itThis is evidence that this grammar comes
from some innate source
Universal features of languageLanguages vary greatly, but have some
common featuresExample: nouns and verbsExample: structure dependency
Grammatical rules rely on the structure of the sentence, not the surface order of the words
Structure dependencyMr Smith was a good manWas Mr Smith a good man?
Mr Smith was a good manMan good a was Smith Mr?
Joe was a good manA Joe was good man?
Universals explainedUniversals unexpected if language is learnt
from the environment alone
Universals due to innate languageOr due to something else?
Universal functions of languageUniversal forms of cognition
The theory: innate language knowledgeIf children don’t/can’t learn the rules of
grammar from the language around them in their environment…
… then these rules must have been in-born
This explains all the difficulties we found with environment-only acquisition theories
Key points of Chomskyan Theory
The Essentials
InnatismWhat is innate?Chomsky: the essential core of grammar is
innateA generative grammar that can produce an
infinite range of novel sentencesThe innate system for language learning
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)Universal Grammar (UG)“bioprogram”“language organ”“language instinct”
Inside the Chomskyan brain
Autonomy
Is language autonomous?Chomsky thinks that language is
autonomous in the mindThis means that language (i.e. UG) is a
separate system in the brain’s architectureIt is connected to, but does not interact
extensively with, other sorts of thought
(The diagram)
MaturationChomsky’s theory is a maturationist theoryLanguage acquisition runs to an innate
biological timetableUG matures in the brain and is slowly released
in predetermined stages as the child growsThis linguistic maturation is analogous to the
sexual maturation we go through at puberty…… and is just as involuntary!
Only the younger ones were at the right stage of maturation
Language is species-specificUG and the language system only occur in
the human brainTherefore, no other animals can acquire a
human languageBut is this solely due to their lesser
intelligence?Can chimps learn language? We’ll look at
this next term!
Evolution??How did UG get there in the first place?There is much disagreement on this
Chomsky: not by natural selection!Chomsky, Bickerton: a single lucky language
mutation (a “Hopeful Monster”)Pinker: by normal natural selection
Universal Grammar
But what exactly is Universal Grammar?What knowledge does it contain?How does it function in the process of
language acquisition?
… we’ll try to find out next time
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