Is Language Innate? Flashcards
What are the two competing theories in the nature vs nurture debate for language?
Nativist Theory (born with the ability to use grammar (UG))and have specialised language learning mechanisms (language acquisition device(LAD)) Behaviourist Theory - tabla rasa (blank slate) and experience imprints grammar structures
Why did Chomsky (1958) and Pinker (1994) imitation and reinforcement (corrections) are not enough to learn a language?
Because children produce sentences they’ve never heard, not necessarily corrected when they produce an ungrammatical sentence
What is Chomsky’s argument for children learning grammar?
Children have an innate knowledge of grammar which allows them to grasp the rules and expectations of language as they say”goed” instead of “went” which shows no imitation.
What is “deep structure” in terms of language?
The underlying form which constrains the information necessary to the meaning
What is surface structure?
Parts of the actual sentence that can be segmented and labelled into phrases units by conventional syntactic analysis
What are surface structure and deep structure important when looking into the theory of transformational grammar?
Languages differ in their surface properties but all share a deep structure (meaning)
What is the idea of the critical period hypothesis?
That from early birth to childhood is a critical period of language learning and that as the brain matures the critical period closes (biologically driven) which then means later learning language becomes more difficult
What are the main arguments of nativism?
Children create language
The language system is independent from other cognitive functions (modularity)
Language learning is largely a result of maturation (nature not nurture)
Language is hard wired as a specialised circuit
What are the main arguments of non-nativism?
Children discover language
The language system is not indecent from other cognitive functions (interactivity)
Language learning is the result of maturation, general learning mechanisms, and properties of the input (nature and nurture)
Language is hard wired in brain circuits but not language specific
What is evidence for innate language skills?
Nicaraguan sign language
What caused the birth of Nicaraguan Sign Language?
Scientists were looking at the innate components of language (which is more evident in impoverished environments)
They bought a group of deaf children from different communities in the 1970’s to learn to lip read - however with no formal training, they communicated with each other with their own sign language - been taught to other children and developed NSL
What makes NSL a language?
Spatial modulations: these are building blocks in sign language
moving the direction or modulating a sign’s movement to or from a non neutral location consists of a spatial modulation (to change grammatical meanings)
What is speech difficulties known as?
Verbal dyspraxia
What are the arguments about FOXP2 being the language gene?
The FOXP2 is specific to language
Why are arguments against the FOXP2 being the language gene?
The gene is present in other species
It’s important for rapid planning, co-ordination and timing of sequential movements
Unlikely to be language specific but language relevant
