Language Development II: Nativist Perspective

Chomsky proposed the nativist perspective on language development, which emphasizes the active role of the learner.

He argued that word combinations are too many and complex to be learned through imitation and reinforcement alone.

Children often create new, correct phrases they’ve never heard, showing that imitation alone can’t explain language acquisition.

Chomsky suggested that the human brain is naturally prepared to acquire language, and infants develop speech as naturally as they learn to walk.

According to him, children are born with a language-learning mechanism called the language acquisition device.

This mechanism programs the brain to analyze the language children hear and figure out its rules, such as grammar usage.

Nativists view infants’ early ability to differentiate between phonemes as evidence of an innate readiness to process speech.

They also suggest that almost all children master their native language without formal teaching.