Language Acquisition

Author : Mary Anne Winslow
Noam Chomsky can be regarded as the most influential and well-known linguist on the twentieth century. He has made a number of claims about language; in particular he suggests that language is an innate discipline in that we are born with a set of rules about language in
our heads which he refers to as the 'Universal Grammar'. The universal
grammar is the basis upon which all human languages build. In
Chomsky's early work, this takes the form of an innate structure
called the Language Acquisition Device (LAD).
Psychologists have produced several accounts of infant language
acquisition, which differ in their underlying theoretical
perspectives.Behavioral perspectives in Language acquisition
identified a sequence in language development. Skinner argued
that language was learned by the child through the process of operant
conditioning, a process of stimulus-response where a result occurs as
a consequence of actions and that the environment in which a child
lives reinforces behavior. Skinner suggests that the prelinguistic
stage of language in which a baby cries with hunger, pain and anger at
the early stages and then progresses on to cooing and babbling is
reinforced by the parents, in particular the mother, by rewards such
as a smile or attention. Both Skinner and Bandura believed that
this behaviorist perspective on language was based on observation and
imitation by the child, although this has later been criticized by
Brown and Hanlon as their studies of parent child interaction showed
parents often reward of incorrect utterances and are also not able to
reinforce all the utterances a child will use.These very early stages
of language acquisition are the same the world over. De Villiers and
De Villiers also stated that during this prelinguistic stage of
babbling, babies produce every known phoneme that occurs in any human
language. This is a unit of sound which is narrowed down by the parent
to produce random noises, which in turn produces early utterances and
then moves on to the One Word Stage and Stage One Grammar. This stage
of language usually occurs between the ages of twelve and thirty
months. Initially this stage starts with one word utterances such as
'broom' for a car and 'woof' for a dog, words applied to their
surrounding environment and then progresses on to simple two word
sentences such as 'mummy gone' or 'want milk'.The Biological or cognitive perspective was documented by Chomsky in
1957, in which he challenged Skinner's approach to language on several
grounds. He argued that Skinner's theory implied that children learn
entirely through trial and error, that they try out possible
utterances which they adopt if approved and reject if they do not. He
argued that children acquire language in such a short space of time,
acquiring complex grammatical rules and extensive vocabulary that
would not have been possible through a trial and error system. Chomsky
proposed that the child has a language acquisition device (LAD) which
is an inherent mechanism allowing the child to hear the spoken
language around it to reveal the basic principles of the language. In
1983 J Bruner brought together the two previous perspectives on
Language acquisition to form the Interactionist Perspective, which
consisted of the two elements, cognitive and social interaction
between the child and the environment. He argued that parents provide
their children with a language acquisition support system (LASS) which
is a collection of strategies that parents use to facilitate their
children's acquisition of language.One of these strategies is scaffolding, here a child is deliberately spoken to in a language
slightly beyond that of their understanding therefore leading to a
child acquiring language quicker that they might have on their own.
The cognitive side of the perspective originates from the work of
Piaget (1936) in which he suggests that only by a child's interaction
with the environment, and an understanding of what they have heard can
they develop and enhance their skills. The social side of the
perspective is based on the learning being interactionally organized,
concentrating on the joint attention studies, Schaffer and the
theory of turn taking, Snow in that learning is primarily
organized.With the introduction of the Interactionist perspective, the views of
Chomsky were greatly criticized. J Bruner holds that while
there may be as Chomsky suggests a LAD, a LASS must also be in place.
And that without the close interaction of a child and their parents
there is not the opportunity to acquire language. Chomsky was also
criticized for appearing to reduce language to its grammar, regarding
the meaning as secondary. With disregarding meaning and the social
situation in which language is normally produced, he disregards in
particular the situation in which the child learns its first language.
His main weakness was that he saw the child as essentially autonomous
in the creation of language that he is programmed to learn and will
learn so long as minimal social and economic conditions are realized.
Bard and Sachs undertook a study of a child born to deaf
parents.This child was surrounded by language in the form of
television and radio but received no spoken language or LASS from his
parents. The child only succeeded in acquiring language once he was
referred to a speak therapist. As soon as the child received the
social interaction of language he developed very quickly. This
disproved Chomsky's views on the biological perspective. Although
there have been many critics of Chomsky, many of his views have
appeared in later research into the interactionist perspective.The focus of attention on features of languages common to all
languages is one of the strengths of Chomsky's approach, the idea of
universal grammar. The theory that a child does not simply copy the
language that they hear around them, they deduce rules from it, which
they can then use to create sentences that they have never heard
before. Many studies of child directed speech, research undertaken by
Catherine Snow, show that speech to young children is slow,
clear, grammatical and repetitious, supporting the work of Chomsky
that children are able to learn without the social interaction.The article was produced by custom essays expert writer. Mar Anne Winslow has a vast experience in Dissertation writing counselling and term paper writing services for several years.
Keyword : acquisition, language