Language acquisition device

Language module

Linguistics
Part of a series on
Outline History Index
General linguistics Diachronic Lexicography Morphology Phonology Pragmatics Semantics Syntax Syntax–semantics interface Typology
Applied linguistics Acquisition Anthropological Applied Computational Conversation analysis Corpus linguistics Discourse analysis Distance Documentation Ethnography of communication Ethnomethodology Forensic History of linguistics Interlinguistics Neurolinguistics Philology Philosophy of language Phonetics Psycholinguistics Sociolinguistics Text Translating and interpreting Writing systems
Theoretical frameworks Formalist Constituency Dependency Distributionalism Generative Glossematics Functional Cognitive Construction grammar Functional discourse grammar Grammaticalization Interactional linguistics Prague circle Systemic functional Usage-based Structuralism
Topics Autonomy of syntax Compositionality Conservative and innovative language Descriptivism Etymology Iconicity Internationalism Internet linguistics LGBT linguistics Origin of language Orismology Orthography Philosophy of linguistics Prescriptivism Second-language acquisition Theory of language Terminology
Portal
v t e

The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a claim from language acquisition research proposed by Noam Chomsky in the 1960s.^[1] The LAD concept is a purported instinctive mental capacity which enables an infant to acquire and produce language. It is a component of the nativist theory of language. This theory asserts that humans are born with the instinct or "innate facility" for acquiring language. The main argument given in favor of the LAD was the argument from the poverty of the stimulus, which argues that unless children have significant innate knowledge of grammar, they would not be able to learn language as quickly as they do, given that they never have access to negative evidence and rarely receive direct instruction in their first language.^[2]

Critics say there is insufficient evidence from neuroscience and language acquisition research to support the claim that people have a language acquisition device.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Shatz, Marilyn (2007). "On the development of the field of language development". In Hoff and Schatz (ed.). Blackwell Handbook of Language Development. Wiley. pp. 1–15. ISBN 9780470757833.
^ VanPatten & Benati 2010, p. 101.

Sources

Briscoe, Ted (2000). "Grammatical Acquisition: Inductive Bias and Coevolution of Language and the Language Acquisition Device". Language. 76 (2): 245–296. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.41.5863. doi:10.1353/lan.2000.0015. S2CID 146243305.
Chomsky, Noam (1965). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. MIT Press.
Kennison, S. M. (2013). Introduction to language development. Los Angeles: Sage.
VanPatten, Bill; Benati, Allesandro G. (2010). Key Terms in Second Language Acquisition. Continuum.