Nativism

Nativism flashcards for Child Language theories.

What is the nativism theory?

A theory developed by Noam Chomsky that states that children cannot learn through imitation of their caregivers because they provide a poverty stimulus. He states that children must have something in their brains inbuilt to help them learn language which he call the Language Acquisition Device.

What is a poverty stimulus?

Poverty stimulus states that parents/caregivers do not provide a good enough standard of language (and often break the rules).

At what age does acquiring languages become hard and why?

At age seven because that is when Chomsky claims that the LAD switches off.

What does the LAD contain?

Within the LAD is the knowledge of universal grammar and the knowledge becomes activated through experience.

How does Chomsky explain why children resist corrections to their mistakes?

Chomsky states that children will often  resist corrections to their mistakes – in this sense, the LAD is instructing them that their way of using language is correct and that the caregivers are wrong.

What are virtuous errors?

Chomsky states that virtuous errors are errors which are made with good intentions e.g. ‘I hurted his feelings’.

What research supports Chomsky’s claims about children using universal grammar?

His theory is supported by the fact that many languages follow the SVO (subject-verb-object) syntax – Brown’s research states that 75% of languages use this syntax.

Explain ‘The Wug Test’.

Jean Berko Gleason created what is called ‘The Wug Test’.

• In this, children were given a picture of a bird-like creature called a ‘wug’ and then asked to state things like what two of these creatures would be called (‘wugs’). The test invented nouns and verbs to test pluralisation and over-generalisation.

What were the findings of ‘The Wug Test’?

Findings of 'The Wug Test'

• 76% of 4-5-year olds and 97% of 5-7-year olds could correctly use the -s ending for ‘wug’.

• The test used words that children will not have encountered before and so proves that children learn the rule and do not imitate.

What case study supports the nativism arguement?

The Genie case study.

Explain the Genie case study.

• In the 1970s, a 13-year-old girl was found by authorities. When authorities found her, she was withered and held her hands like a rabbit.

• At first, welfare officers assumed she was autistic, but further probing discovered she could barely speak (limited to a very small number of words).

• Her father had trapped her in a room since she was a toddler, detaining her in a straight-jacket and tying her to a chair. He growled at her if she cried or made any other noise.

• Linguists worked extensively with Genie, but because she had passed the critical period, she could not properly acquire language.

• This case study supports Chomsky. As Genie had passed the critical age, Chomsky would argue that the LAD has expired and so cannot be activated.

• This case study also supports the idea that children cannot learn language by interaction with caregivers alone.

What other theorist supports Nativism?

Pinker.

What does Pinker say in support of Nativism?

As Pinker points out, nearly every utterance a child produces is a brand-new combination of words, and so he questions whether a child can learn from imitation.

Other support (Non-standard utterances produced by children.

Children often produce grammatically non-standard utterances, and so they cannot be copied.

Other support (culture and age)

Culture is not a barrier – all cultures acquire language at a similar age.

Other support (non-standard utterances and making sense)

Non-standard grammatical constructions can make sense.

Other support (Berko Gleason)

Inflectional mistakes (Berko Gleason) prove an application of a set of rules.

Arguments against Chomsky’s Nativism.

• Chomsky’s theory is often dismissed by critics because it is based on hypothetical thinking rather than real-life children.

  • Leading linguistics like Tomasello have dismissed Chomsky as an ‘armchair linguist’.

  • This criticism of Chomsky’s research throws into question the validity of his theory.

Overall limitation of Chomsky’s Nativism.

Overall, Chomsky’s theory is limited by not having scientific evidence, but is still very important in considering how a child learns language.