Noam Chomsky's theory of language development

Noam chomsky (Philadelphia, United States, 1928) is one of the most recognized thinkers today. His work is extensive and multifaceted: he has developed deep theories, studies and insights both in the fields of linguistics, developmental psychology, philosophy, and political analysis.

In today's article we are going to summarize Chomsky's contributions to the psychology of language. The popular American intellectual has laid the foundations for current lines of research in cognitive science.

• To delve into this author: "Noam Chomsky: Biography of an Anti-System Linguist"

Language development: programmed for speech?

According to research by Noam Chomsky, children are born with an innate ability for speech. They are able to learn and assimilate communicative and linguistic structures. Thanks to the Universal Grammar TheoryChomsky proposed a new paradigm in language development. According to his postulates, all the languages ​​that human beings use have common characteristics in their own structure.

From this evidence, Professor Chomsky deduces that language acquisition during childhood can occur thanks to the ability of human beings to recognize and assimilate the basic structure of language, structure that constitutes the essential root of any language.

Universal Grammar

Noam Chomsky's theory of language development during childhood is based on a controversial precept: "Human language is the product of deciphering a program determined by our genes ”. This position collides diametrically with the environmentalist theories of development, which emphasize the role of influence of the environment on the individual and the capacity of this to adapt to the different contexts that they have to live.

Furthermore, Chomsky states that children possess the innate ability to understand the grammar of language, skill that they develop through their experiences and learning. regardless of their family or cultural background. To designate this innate artifact for understanding grammar, Chomsky uses the term "Universal Grammar", common to all language systems known to date.

Plasticity to acquire language

It is well known that, during childhood, there is a “critical” period during which it is easier for us to learn the language. This period of greatest brain plasticity during which we are a sponge for languages ​​runs from birth to pre-adolescence.

Chomsky, through his review of the work of the German linguist and neurologist Eric Lenneberg, he emphasizes that children go through a stage of what he calls “linguistic alertness”. During this key period, the understanding and ability to learn new languages ​​is greater compared to other life stages. In Chomsky's own words, “We all go through a specific maturational period in which, thanks to appropriate external stimuli, our ability to speak a language will develop quickly".

Therefore, children who are taught multiple languages ​​during their infancy and pre-adolescence, they will surely be able to correctly acquire the bases of these languages. This does not happen with adults, since their plasticity, their ability to acquire languages ​​is no longer in such good shape.

How does language acquisition occur?

According to Noam Chomsky's theory, the language acquisition process only occurs if the child deduces the implicit rules of language, such as notions of syntactic structure or grammar.

So that we are able to develop and learn language during childhood, Chomsky argued that we all have a “language acquisition device” in our brain. The hypothesis of the existence of this device would enable us to learn the norms and recurrences that constitute language. Over the years, Noam Chomsky revised his theory and included the analysis of various guiding principles of language, in relation to its acquisition during childhood.

These principles, like the existence of grammar and various syntactic rules, are common to all languages. Instead, there are other elements that vary depending on the language we study.

The learning process and the evolution of language

As Chomsky explains, human language allows us to express an infinity of ideas, information and emotions. Consequently, language is a social construction that does not stop evolving. Society is setting the guidelines on the norms and common uses of language, both in its oral and written versions.

In fact, it is very common for children to use language in a very particular way: mixing concepts, inventing words, distorting others, constructing sentences in their own way... Little little by little, their brain assimilates the rules and recurrences of the language, making fewer and fewer mistakes and using the wide range of artifacts that the language provides them with property. language.

Criticisms and controversies around Chomsky's theory

The theory of Universal Grammar that Noam Chomsky formulated is not unanimous within the scientific community and academic. In fact, it is an idea that, although it had a strong impact on the study of language acquisition, is considered outdated, and Chomsky himself has changed his position in this regard. Critical currents argue that, with the idea of ​​Universal Grammar, Chomsky made a mistake in his postulates: overgeneralization.

The sectors that have most questioned Chomsky's theory reject the postulate of the language acquisition device because, they argue, it does not have any type of empirical support. Other scholars have criticized the American linguist's theory for its excessive innateness., and therefore for not sufficiently collecting environmental factors in language acquisition.

These criticisms have caused Chomsky over the years to revise and modify some aspects of his postulates of his, while he was adding new evidences and complementary aspects to this body of knowledge.