Brief Review of “Universal Grammar theory” by Noam Chomsky

by marianelasouquett

Joined Feb 2017
Published Books 2

Universal Grammar theory publication year

The view linguists had about language was changed when Noam Chomsky propounded his theory of “Universal grammar” in 1960s.

He would attack the other theories in vogue in those years, like structuralism and conductivism.

Until that moment scholars believed that language was acquire by a succession of trials, errors, and rewards for complete the learning. This meant that children learned their mother tongue by simple imitation, listening to and repeating what people around them said.

However, Chomsky in his postulates said that language was produce through an inner brain device that allows humans learn and use language easily, and genetically share a very similar grammar structure no matter who they are or where they are raised, justifying the existence of a “Universal Grammar”.

According to Chomsky children born prepared and with a innate capability to comunicate and use language, and there is a set of constraints that allow them the understanding of grammatical structures. Though it obviously must be developed trough experience and learning.

Tenets of the theory.

*After Noam Chomsky´s new theory, science research found that new born babies could understand and distinguish phonemes and process sounds of the human voice.

*Poverty of stimuli. The child receives stimuli in a disordered and insufficient way to learn only from these stimuli.
Thus, the child’s ability to develop linguistic competence must be innate.

*Speed of children language acquisition is another reason that support his theory. A child can learn language easy and quickly.

*The pidgin languages would appear among the slaves who lived in plantations. They came from different places and create this new way of “communication”, which mixed and joined several mother tongues without almost any grammatical structure, much mispelling, and lexical mistakes. however, the children did not imitate what they were hearing but spontaneously introduced grammatical complexity into their speech. This people were the well-known “creoles”.

Contribution to the study of language:

The contributions that Noam Chomsky made with his researches to the field of linguistics were very important and gave another perspective to acquisition of languages and opened a new path toward the following investigations.

The idea of a universal grammar and a unique first language, from which all others have evolved was one of the biggest findings on this matter.

Drewbacks of the theory.

Though, the strong claim that Chomsky throw to the field of linguistics , evolutionary biologist took very serious their researches about this topic and postulate a different theory about the source of language understanding, setting that more than a innate syntatic ability, evolution and biology changes have make possible our high skills for language.

Authors like Lieberman and Deacon believe that our ansestors invented “modes of communicacion” that compatible with the brain’s natural abilities.

The linguist George Lakoff of the University of California, shows that semantics, context, and other factors can come into play in the rules that govern syntax, and not as Chomsky said, that Syntax is independet of those factors.

How do you see this theory reflected in your language acquisition experience?

Everybody has not the same cognitive capabilities to learn, understand, and get different languages as well as his or her native language, however the theory of Chomsky can demostrate that human bings are able to learn any language, without being conduced by a pattern, in spite of, some theories tell the opposite.

Nevertheless, in some universities like UPEL can exist the posibility where teachers follow this theory, they can allow to their students to be free and independent, in the way that they can learn, also persons have differents forms to learn a language and making use of it. It is possible to be envolve in an environment where they can improve their linguistic skills, without any fear. in other hand, this theory should be used by all the teachers and be applied in the students, due to it makes them feel secure, besides, they are supposed to get new knowledges, and they must have an open mind for these types of cognitive adquisition.

In addition, this theory is very important for language adquisition, everybody is afortunated when learns a language, and develop it Through comunication.

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