Universal Grammar

Noam Chomsky

Who is Noam Chomsky?

Development of Mentalist Views

According to Chomsky; the abundance of

possibilities of word and sentence formation

requires child to have a mechanism to easily

and quickly find the suitable form from an

infinite number of choices (1965, p. 32).

Language Acquisition Device

Brown refers to this device as a “black box

thought to contain all and only the principles

which are universal to all human languages”

and states that it prevents the child from

trying wrong ways and making too many

mistakes to acquire the rules of the language

(Brown, 2000, p. 16).

Black Box

The ability to distinguish speech sounds from

other sounds in the environment

The ability to organize linguistic data into various classes that can later be refined

According to McNeill (1966), LAD has four main linguistic features:

Knowledge that only a certain kind of linguistic

system is possible and that other kinds are not and

The ability to engage in constant evaluation of the developing linguistic system so as to construct the simplest possible system out of the available linguistic input. (cited by Brown, 2006, p. 29)

Verbal Behavior by Skinner

Questioning Behaviorist Approach

Neuropsychologist Eric Lenneberg (1967)

UG’s Debut as a Reaction

Chomsky named language acquisition device

as the Universal Grammar; which meant that

all the main and common rules of the concept

of language are innately inherited as a

‘species-specific’ endowment and with the

help of peripheral induction of the new

vocabulary and grammatical utterances,

children pick up and test their hypotheses

(Brown, 2006, p. 29).

Universal Grammar

Generative Grammar (cited in Chomsky, 1957)

Government Binding

Ideas and Theories of UG

Principles and Parameters Theory (P&P)

Aspects Model (the introduction of competence/performance)

No Access to Universal Grammar

Full Access to Universal Grammar

Partial Access

Empirical Evidence

Critical Period Hypothesis: A biological basis

The abundance of exposure to the target

language triggers the LAD and the rules are

inductively learnt or acquired by the person.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE FOR UG

The complex nature of the everyday speech

cannot be directly linked to behaviorist habit

formation process as there are too many, too

complex and too long sentences, which

require a capacity far beyond the formal

education of the language.

Even if deaf children who are born into hearing

parents can learn a language, a state that

behaviorist view would not suffice to explain.

The social environment and the well-

established idea of a biological aid cannot be

divorced. (Demirezen, 1989)

The mentalist theory cannot fully account for

the question “how much language exposure is

needed to trigger the linguistic patterns and

rules in the target language”.

Criticism of UG

The studies always concentrated on the

grammar and innateness. Therefore, “the

balance between environmental influences

and biological growth was still unclear (Stern,

1991, p. 302)

Children learn the language as it is due. How?

(Lenneberg, 1969, pp. 635).

Thank You!