NOAM CHOMSKY

NOAM CHOMSKY IS ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL

PEOPLE IN THE FIELD OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION.
HE HAS BEEN HUGELY INFLUENTIAL IN THE FIELDS
OF LINGUISTICS, PHILOSOPHY OF THE MIND AND
HUMAN NATURE, AND POLITICS.
LINGUISTS IN THE CHOMSKYAN TRADITION THINK
OF THEMSELVES AS NATURAL SCIENCES (NOT
SOCIAL SCIENCES.)

NOAM CHOMSKY

HE BELONGS TO THE LINGUISTIC SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

KNOWN AS GENERATIVE LINGUISTICS.
HE IS ALSO THE PROPONENT OF NATIVIST THEORY THAT IS
INCORPORATED WITH THE LANGUAGE ACQUISITION APPROACH
AND THE LAD.
HE IS ALSO THE MOST IMPORTANT PROPONENT OF UNIVERSAL
GRAMMAR(UG).

NOAM CHOMSKY CLAIMS THAT ALL

LANGUAGES HAVE A COMMON
UNDERLYING SYSTEM AND ALL HUMAN
BEINGS INHERIT A UNIVERSAL SET OF
PRINCIPLES THAT PROVIDE SLLS TO
ACQUIRE L2 AS THEY ACQUIRE THEIR
NATIVE LANGUAGE WITH THE HELP OF
AN ACQUISITION DEVICE THAT IS UG.
MUCH OF UNCONSCIOUS KNOWLEDGE
OF GRAMMAR
( ABSTRACT LINGUISTIC SYSTEM )
DOES NOT NEED TO BE LEARNED
IN THE COURSE OF L1 ACQUISITION
AS IT DERIVES FROM UG.

A CHILD'S LINGUISTIC SYSTEM IS SHAPED

TO A SIGNIFICANT DEGREE BY THE
UTTERANCES TO WHICH THAT CHILD HAS
BEEN
EXPOSED.
THAT IS WHY A CHILD SPEAKS THE
LANGUAGE AND DIALECT OF HIS FAMILY
AND COMMUNITY. NONETHELESS, THERE
ARE
ASPECTS
OF
THE LINGUISTIC SYSTEM ACQUIRED BY
THE CHILD THAT DO NOT DEPEND ON
INPUT DATA IN THIS WAY. SOME CASES OF
THIS
TYPE,
IT
HAS
BEEN
ARGUED,
REFLECT
THE
INFLUENCE
OF
A
GENETICALLY
PRESPECIFIED BODY OF KNOWLEDGE
ABOUT HUMAN LANGUAGE. THE TERM
UNIVERSAL
GRAMMAR
-COMMONLY

DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH

CENTURY, LINGUISTS WHO THEORIZED ABOUT
THE HUMAN ABILITY TO SPEAK DID SO FROM
THE
BEHAVIOURIST
PERSPECTIVE
THAT
PREVAILED AT THAT TIME. THEY THEREFORE
HELD THAT LANGUAGE LEARNING, LIKE ANY
OTHER
KIND
OF
LEARNING,
COULD
BE
EXPLAINED BY A SUCCESSION OF TRIALS,
ERRORS, AND REWARDS FOR SUCCESS. IN
OTHER WORDS, CHILDREN LEARNED THEIR
MOTHER TONGUE BY SIMPLE IMITATION,
LISTENING TO AND REPEATING WHAT ADULTS
SAID.

 Acquiring
Acquiring language
language
cannot
cannot be
be reduced
reduced to
to
simply
simply developing
developing an
an
inventory
inventory of
of
responses
responses to
to stimuli,
stimuli,
because
because every
every
sentence
sentence that
that anyone
anyone
produces
produces can
can be
be a
a
totally
totally new
new
combination
combination of
of
words.
words. When
When we
we
speak,
speak, we
we combine
combine a
a
finite
finite number
number of
of
elementsthe
elementsthe words
words
of
of our
our languageto
languageto
create
create an
an infinite
infinite
number
number of
of larger
larger
structures
structures
sentences.
sentences.

UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR, THEN,

CONSISTS OF A SET OF UNCONSCIOUS
CONSTRAINTS THAT LET US DECIDE
WHETHER A SENTENCE IS CORRECTLY
FORMED. THIS MENTAL GRAMMAR IS
NOT NECESSARILY THE SAME FOR ALL
LANGUAGES. BUT ACCORDING TO
CHOMSKYIAN THEORISTS, THE
PROCESS BY WHICH, IN ANY GIVEN
LANGUAGE, CERTAIN SENTENCES ARE
PERCEIVED AS CORRECT WHILE
OTHERS ARE NOT, IS UNIVERSAL AND
INDEPENDENT OF MEANING.

 Robert book reads

the.

The grass eats the

cow.

THINK
THINK OF
OF THIS.
THIS.
A
A pair
pair of
of dice
dice offers
offers a
a useful
useful metaphor
metaphor to
to
explain
explain what
what Chomsky
Chomsky means
means when
when he
he refers
refers to
to
universal
universal grammar
grammar as
as a
a set
set of
of constraints.
constraints.
Before
Before we
we throw
throw the
the pair
pair of
of dice,
dice, we
we know
know that
that the
the
result
result will
will be
be a
a number
number from
from 2
2 to
to 12,
12, but
but nobody
nobody
would
would take
take a
a bet
bet on
on its
its being
being 3.143.
3.143. Similarly,
Similarly, a
a
newborn
newborn baby
baby has
has the
the potential
potential to
to speak
speak any
any of
of a
a
number
number of
of languages,
languages, depending
depending on
on what
what country
country
it
it is
is born
born in,
in, but
but it
it will
will not
not just
just speak
speak them
them any
any
way
way it
it likes:
likes: it
it will
will adopt
adopt certain
certain preferred,
preferred, innate
innate
structures.
structures. One
One way
way to
to describe
describe these
these structures
structures
would
would be
be that
that they
they are
are not
not things
things that
that babies
babies and
and
children
children learn,
learn, but
but rather
rather things
things that
that happen
happen to
to
them.
them. Just
Just as
as babies
babies naturally
naturally develop
develop arms
arms and
and
not
not wings
wings while
while they
they are
are still
still in
in the
the womb,
womb, once
once
they
they are
are born
born they
they naturally
naturally learn
learn to
to speak,
speak, and
and
not
not to
to chirp
chirp or
or neigh.
neigh.

IMPLICATIONS:
1. THERE IS NO NEED TO TEACH
PRINCIPLES BECAUSE THEY ARE
UNIVERSAL AND
EXIST IN ALL HUMAN LANGUAGES.
2. WE SHOULD DESIGN OPTIMUM
INPUT FOR TRIGGERING
PARAMETERS.
3. THE TEACHING OF VOCABULARY
ITEMS WITH SPECIFICATIONS OF
HOW THEY CAN OCCUR IN
GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES IS
IMPORTANT.

STRENGTHS:
1. CHILDREN RAPIDLY ACQUIRE
NATIVE SPEECH OR LANGUAGE
WITHOUT HAVING AN INTENSIVE
LEARNING.
2. UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR OFFERS A
SOLUTION TO THE POVERTY OF THE
STIMULUS PROBLEM BY MAKING
CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS UNIVERSAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN
LANGUAGES. LANGUAGE LEARNERS
ARE CONSEQUENTLY NEVER
TEMPTED TO GENERALIZE IN AN
ILLICIT FASHION.

WEAKNESS:
1. THE APPLICATION OF UG IN
CLASSROOM TEACHING IS
LIMITED BECAUSE IT IS CONCERNED
WITH THE ABSTRACT
MENTAL REPRESENTATION OF
LANGUAGE AND THE
COMPUTATIONAL MECHANISM
ASSOCIATED WITH IT, WHICH
ALL HUMAN BEINGS POSSESS,
CALLED COMPETENCE.

WEAKNESS:
2. THIS APPROACH TO GRAMMAR
AFFECTS THE NATURE OF
INTERLANGUAGE THE KNOWLEDGE
OF THE SECOND
LANGUAGE IN THE LEARNERS MIND.
THEIR SOURCE (OF
KNOWLEDGE) MIGHT BE PARTLY THE
LEARNERS L1,
PARTLY THEIR LEARNING
STRATEGIES, PARTLY OTHER
SOURCES.

REFERENCES:
HTTP://WWW.IASJ.NET/IASJ?FUNC=FULLTEXT&AID=44
99
HTTP://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/UNIVERSAL_GRAMMA
R
HTTP://WWW.SOUTHERNCROSSREVIEW.ORG/9/CHOMS
KY.HTM
HTTP://THEBRAIN.MCGILL.CA/FLASH/CAPSULES/OUTI
L_ROUGE06.HTML

NOAM CHOMSKYS
THEORY
ON
UNIVERSAL
GRAMMAR