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Dec 11, 2021 · This definition provides an important evolutionary boundary that preserves the essence of human language. It may violate deeply felt cultural biases by excluding a minuscule number of utterances ...
The linguist Noam Chomsky is a believer in the nature approach to language, arguing that human brains contain a language acquisition device that includes a universal grammar that underlies all human language (Chomsky, 1965, 1972). According to this approach, each of the many languages spoken around the world (there are between 6,000 and 8,000) is an individual example of the same underlying ...
The rapid increase in brain capacity and complexity would also have played a large role in the evolution of language. Fossil evidence suggests that brain regions associated with language, such as Broca’s area, were present in hominids as far back as 2 millions years ago. The evolution of language did have its costs.
From Primate Origins to a Language Ready Human Brain. The origin of language (spoken, signed, and written) and its relationship to human evolution are complex subjects requiring inferences from the fossil record, archeological evidence, contemporary language similarities and differences, studies of language acquisition, and comparisons between human language and communication in other animals ...
- Behaviorist Theory of Language Acquisition
- Chomsky Theory of Language Development
- Universal Grammar
- Contemporary Research
- Conclusion
- References
- Further Reading
One of the earliest scientific explanations of language acquisition was provided by Skinner (1957). As one of the pioneers of behaviorism, he accounted for language development using environmental influence, through imitation, reinforcement, and conditioning. In this view, children learn words and grammar primarily by mimicking the speech they hear...
However, Skinner’s account was soon heavily criticized by Noam Chomsky, the world’s most famous linguist to date. In the spirit of the cognitive revolutionin the 1950s, Chomsky argued that children would never acquire the tools needed for processing an infinite number of sentences if the language acquisition mechanism was dependent on language inpu...
Consequently, he proposed the theory of Universal Grammar: an idea of innate, biological grammatical categories, such as a noun category and a verb category, that facilitate the entire language development in children and overall language processing in adults. Universal Grammar contains all the grammatical information needed to combine these catego...
A decade or two later, some psycho-linguists began to question the existence of Universal Grammar. They argued that categories like nouns and verbs are biologically, evolutionarily, and psychologically implausible and that the field called for an account that can explain the acquisition process without innate categories. Researchers started to sugg...
However, finding a solid answer to the problem of language acquisition is far from being over. Our current understanding of the developmental process is still immature. Investigators of Universal Grammar are still trying to convince that language is a task too demanding to acquire without specific innate equipment, whereas constructivist researcher...
Ambridge, B., & Lieven, E.V.M. (2011).Language Acquisition: Contrasting theoretical approaches. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. MIT Press. Pine, J.M., Conti-Ramsden, G., Joseph, K.L., Lieven, E.V.M., & Serratrice, L. (2008). Tense over time: testing the Agreement/Tense Omission Model as an...
An excellent article by Steven Pinker on Language Acquisition Pinker, S. (1995). The New Science of Language and Mind. Penguin. Tomasello, M. (2005). Constructing A Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition. Harvard University Press.
Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects. [1] The discipline is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind and brain; that is, the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend, and produce language.
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Jun 30, 2014 · The psychology of language: From data to theory. 3d ed. Hove, UK: Psychology Press. This textbook includes information on speech production and comprehension in children and adults. It also provides an entertaining developmental perspective on language acquisition. Spivey, Michael, Ken McRae, and Marc Joanisse. 2012.
