![]() Poverty of stimulus is the ability of the human brain to recognize correct and incorrect grammar even in novel sentences. The proposed solution is universal grammar” (114). Linguists call this phenomenon the “poverty of stimulus” (5) or the “paradox of language acquisition” (6). This information is insufficient for uniquely determining the underlying grammatical principles (4). Children have to deduce the rules of their native language from sample sentences they receive from their parents and others. Exactly how the mental grammar comes into a child’s mind is a puzzle. ![]() Children of the same speech community reliably learn the same grammar. “Children acquire their mental grammar spontaneously and without formal training. Without this LAD, according to Chomsky, children would never be able to learn language from the input they receive. Chomsky theorized that the brain contains a mechanism he referred to as a language acquisition device (LAD), which is “separate from other faculties of cognitive activity….Input is needed, but only to ‘trigger’ the operation of the language acquisition device” (Ellis 32). Universal Grammar (UG) is a theoretical concept proposed by Noam Chomsky (not without criticism or controversy from scholars in the scientific community) that the human brain contains an innate mental grammar that helps humans acquire language.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |