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Universal Grammar Approaches: in First Language Acquisition

The document discusses Universal Grammar approaches to first language acquisition. It describes how children develop language abilities from babbling as infants to comprehending complex linguistic input in school. Noam Chomsky proposed the existence of an innate Language Acquisition Device (LAD) or Universal Grammar, a "black box" in the brain that contains the universal principles of all human languages and helps children learn the rules of their native tongue from samples of natural language. The LAD was said to include four innate linguistic abilities that help children organize and evaluate linguistic data to construct the simplest possible language system.

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Mark Vincent Z. Padilla
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190 views6 pages

Universal Grammar Approaches: in First Language Acquisition

The document discusses Universal Grammar approaches to first language acquisition. It describes how children develop language abilities from babbling as infants to comprehending complex linguistic input in school. Noam Chomsky proposed the existence of an innate Language Acquisition Device (LAD) or Universal Grammar, a "black box" in the brain that contains the universal principles of all human languages and helps children learn the rules of their native tongue from samples of natural language. The LAD was said to include four innate linguistic abilities that help children organize and evaluate linguistic data to construct the simplest possible language system.

Uploaded by

Mark Vincent Z. Padilla
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Universal

Grammar
Approaches
in First Language Acquisition
0-11 MONTHS
Babble, coo and cry.
Everyone at
1 YEAR some time has
Imitate words and speech sounds
witnessed the
remarkable
they hear around them.

18 MONTHS
Appear in two-word or three-word
ability of
children to
sentences..

3 YEARS
Comprehend an incredible

quantity of linguistic input


communicate
AT SCHOOL
Learn social functions of their

language.
Noam Chomsky
FATHER OF MODERN
LINGUISTICS

HE CLAIMS
Children are biologically programmed for

language and that language develops in the

child in just the same way that other biological

functions develop.
Chomsky proposed the existence of a Language
Acquisition Device (LAD), or Universal Grammar
(UG) as it has been more recently called, as the key
to language learning. According to him, nature has
endowed all human beings with special mechanism
in the brain, and it is which helps children know
the rules of language.
Black Box
THE LAD WAS OFTEN DESCRIBED AS AN IMAGINARY

'BLACK BOX’ WHICH EXISTS SOMEWHERE IN THE

BRAIN. THIS ‘BLACK BOX’ THOUGHT TO CONTAIN ALL

AND ONLY THE PRINCIPLES WHICH

ARE UNIVERSAL TO ALL HUMAN LANGUAGES,

PREVENTS THE CHILD FROM GOING OFF ON LOTS

OF THE LANGUAGE. FOR THE LAD TO WORK, THE

CHILD NEEDS ACCESS ONLY TO SAMPLES OF

A NATURAL LANGUAGE. THESE LANGUAGE SAMPLES

SERVE AS A TRIGGER TO ACTIVATE THE

DEVICE.
McNeill (1966) described LAD
as consisting of four innate
linguistic properties:
THE ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH KNOWLEDGE THAT ONLY A
SPEECH SOUNDS FROM OTHER CERTAIN KIND OF LINGUISTIC
SOUNDS IN THE SYSTEM IS POSSIBLE AND
ENVIRONMENT; THAT
OTHER KINDS ARE NOT;

THE ABILITY TO ORGANIZE THE ABILITY TO ENGAGE IN CONSTANT


EVALUATION OF THE DEVELOPING
LINGUISTIC DATA INTO
LINGUISTIC SYSTEM SO AS TO
VARIOUS CLASSES THAT CAN CONSTRUCT THE SIMPLEST POSSIBLE
LATER BE SYSTEM OUT OF THE AVAILABLE
REFORMED; LINGUISTIC
INPUT.

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