2.3 The innatist perspective: It’s all in your mind
• The time frame is 1960s &1970s
• The main advocate of this theory is Noam Chomsky.
• According to this theory, all human languages are biologically innate: children are biologically programmed for language, and language develops in the child in the same way as other biological functions develop such as walking.
• Chomsky hypothesized that what the child is biologically equipped with is a UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR (UG), which are the principles that underlie all natural languages.
• Children are able to master complex structures that can never be acquired by imitating and practicing but because of their innate language ability.
• Language has a specific module in the brain that is separate from other cognitive abilities.
• Language abilities are acquired in childhood which it may be impossible to access UG.
The Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH)
Organisms are genetically programmed to acquire certain abilities at a certain time after which it becomes either difficult or impossible to acquire them. For humans, it is more difficult or impossible to acquire language after the ‘critical period’.
Evidence:
Victor
▫ found in the woods when he was 12 years
▫ never acquired the language: only producing two words ‘lait’ (milk) and ‘O Dieu’ (Oh, God)
Genie
▫ was found 13 years old when she was found isolated, neglected, and abused.
▫ She failed to acquire the language using grammatical forms inconsistently.
Mike paint
Applesauce buy store
Genie have Momma have baby grow up.
Is the CPH supported by experiments?