Language acquisition device

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]

Contents
Criticism
See also
References
Sources

Criticism
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]

See also
Nicaraguan sign language

References
1. 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.
 2. VanPatten & Benati 2010, p. 101.
3. Hausser, Roland (2004). "What if Chomsky were right?". Journal of Child Language. 31 (4):
919–922. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.543.4281 (https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=1
0.1.1.543.4281). doi:10.1017/S030500090400635X (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS03050009
0400635X) – via Cambridge University Press.
4. Pullum, Geoffrey; Scholz, Barbara (2002). "Empirical assessment of stimulus poverty
arguments" (http://www.ucd.ie/artspgs/research/pullum.pdf) (PDF). The Linguistic Review.
18 (1–2): 9–50. doi:10.1515/tlir.19.1-2.9 (https://doi.org/10.1515%2Ftlir.19.1-2.9). Retrieved
2020-02-28.
5. de Bot, Kees (2015). A History of Applied Linguistics: From 1980 to the Present. Routledge.
ISBN 9781138820654.
6. Sampson, Geoffrey; Babarczy, Anna (2013). Grammar Without Grammaticality: Growth and
Limits of Grammatical Precision. de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110289770.

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 (https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.41.58
63). doi:10.1353/lan.2000.0015 (https://doi.org/10.1353%2Flan.2000.0015).
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.

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