 The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a hypothetical brain mechanism that Noam Chomsky postulated to explain human acquisition of the syntactic structure of language. This mechanism endows children with the capacity to derive the syntactic structure and rules of their native language rapidly and accurately from the impoverished input provided by adult language users. The device is comprised of a finite set of dimensions along which languages vary, which are set at different levels for different languages on the basis of language exposure. The LAD reflects Chomsky's underlying assumption that many aspects of language are universal (common to all languages and cultures) and constrained by innate core knowledge about language called Universal Grammar. This theoretical account of syntax acquisition contrasts sharply with the views of B. F. Skinner, Jean Piaget, and other cognitive and social-learning theorists who emphasize the role of experience and general knowledge and abilities in language acquisition.
See also: LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Chomsky, Noam. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 1965. The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is the innate biological ability of humans to acquire and develop language. The LAD was developed by linguist Noam Chomsky who contributed to the field of cognitive psychology through his language research. He challenged the prevailing behaviorist theory that language (like any other behavior) was acquired through exposure to it in our environment. He theorized that all humans share a mechanism which allows us to comprehend, develop, and use language like no other animal. Animals raised around humans don't develop the ability to speak but humans do. He called this biological language mechanism the Language Acquisition Device. Our capacity for language is the same all over the world in wildly different cultures and environments. Children quickly learn language and learn in developmental stages that occur at the same age no matter what differing environments they grow up in. Cognitive psychologists use the LAD theory as evidence to support the concept that language is both a learned and innate capability.
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Show Summary Details The language acquisition device (LAD) was proposed by Noam Chomsky to explain how children, when exposed to any human language, are able to learn it within only a few years following birth. Chomsky argued that all humans are born with the knowledge of what makes a human language. Included in this innate knowledge must be details of important characteristics of all the world’s languages. The term universal grammar has been used to describe the knowledge contained in the LAD. The process of language development is envisioned as one in which the child discovers which grammar rules contained within universal grammar apply to the language that the child is learning. According to Chomsky, humans are born with the LAD, but other species are not. Nonhuman primates and other species do not spontaneously learn human languages. Furthermore, attempts to teach nonhuman species language have yielded mixed results. Chimpanzees and gorillas have learned to use signed languages, such as American Sign Language (ASL). Washoe the chimpanzee and Koko the gorilla have each learned hundreds of signs and can use them to refer to concrete objects and concepts, such as hungry. However, neither has been able to master the intricacies involved in construction of grammatically correct sentences. Chomsky’s view of the LAD is consistent with there being specific structures in the brain involved in language learning and language processing. Such brain structures are presumably present in human brains, but absent in nonhuman brains. No specific claim was made regarding the specific location of the LAD in the brain. Although there have been locations in the brain identified as language processing areas, such as Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, a location corresponding to the LAD has not been found. Chomsky’s claim that knowledge of language is innate was supported by Eric Lenneberg’s critical period hypothesis. In 1967, Lenneberg published the book Biological Foundations of Language, in which he argued that humans are biologically capable of learning language only until puberty. After puberty, humans are biologically unable to master the intricacies of natural language. For many years, researchers in zoology had recognized the existence of critical periods of development for a range of nonhuman animal species, such as songbirds, ducklings, horses, dogs, and sheep. Evidence for the Lenneberg’s critical period hypothesis for human language was drawn from a variety of sources. Case studies of children raised without sufficient exposure to human language appeared to support the critical period hypothesis. Such individuals, such as Victor, the wild child, and Genie, had not been able to master the grammatical intricacies of sentence construction. Individuals born with severe hearing loss who were not exposed to a signed language until after puberty typically had not been able to achieve nativelike proficiency. Furthermore, there was ample anecdotal evidence that individuals who attempt to learn a second language after puberty rarely achieve a level of proficiency comparable to that of one who learns the language during childhood. Some researchers have rejected the notion that language acquisition is aided by innate knowledge. In 1957, the behaviorist B. F. Skinner published the book Verbal Behavior, in which he argued that all types of language behavior were learned after birth through the same learning processes that are used for all human learning. Some contemporary cognitive scientists, such as David Rumelhart and James McClelland, as well as others, view language learning as the result of general learning principles, rather than language-specific mechanisms. According to Chomsky, the primary challenge for this alternative approach to language learning is adequately explaining how children produce word forms and sentences that they do not experience in the environment and, thus, have no opportunity to learn. References:
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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] A summary explaining LAD by Chomsky states that languages are infinite pertaining to the sequence of word forms (strings) and grammar. These word forms organize grammatically correct sequences of words that can be pooled over a limited lexicon of each independent language. So, LAD is tasked to select from an infinite number of grammars the one which is correct for the language that is presented to an individual, for example, a child.[3] Critics say there is insufficient evidence from neuroscience and language acquisition research to support the claim that people have a language acquisition device as described above, and for the related ideas universal grammar and poverty of the stimulus.[1] It is also argued that Chomsky's purported linguistic evidence for them was mistaken.[4] For such reasons, the mainstream language acquisition community rejected generative grammar in the beginning of the 21st century.[5] The search for a language acquisition device continues, but some scholars argue it is pseudoscience.[6]
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What is a language acquisition device?
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