Noam Chomsky (Philadelphia, United States, 1928) is one of the most recognized thinkers today His work is extensive and multifaceted: he has developed theories, studies and deep knowledge in the field of linguistics, developmental psychology, philosophy and political analysis.
In today’s article we are going to summarize Chomsky’s contributions to the psychology of language. The popular American intellectual has laid the foundations for current lines of research in cognitive science.
According to the research of Noam Chomsky, Children are born with an innate ability to speak They are capable of learning and assimilating communicative and linguistic structures. Thanks to the Theory of Universal Grammar, Chomsky proposed a new paradigm in language development. According to his postulates, all the languages that human beings use have common characteristics in their own structure.
From this evidence, Professor Chomsky deduces that Language acquisition during childhood can occur thanks to the ability of human beings to recognize and assimilate the basic structure of language a structure that constitutes the essential root of any language.
Universal Grammar
The theory of language development during childhood that Noam Chomsky enunciated is based on a controversial precept: “Human language is the product of deciphering a program determined by our genes.” This position clashes diametrically with environmental theories of development, which emphasize the role of the influence of the environment on the individual and his or her ability to adapt to the different contexts in which he or she lives.
Furthermore, Chomsky states that Children have the innate ability to understand the grammar of language, a skill that they develop through their experiences and learning. regardless of their family or cultural context. To designate this innate artifact for understanding grammar, Chomsky uses the term “Universal Grammar”, common in all language systems known to date.
Plasticity to acquire language
It is well known that, during childhood, There is a “critical” period during which it is easier for us to learn the language This period of increased brain plasticity during which we are a sponge for languages goes from birth to pre-adolescence.
Chomsky, through his review of the work of the German linguist and neurologist Eric Lenneberg, emphasizes that children go through a stage of what he calls “linguistic alertness.” During this key period, the understanding and ability to learn new languages is greater compared to other vital stages. In Chomsky’s own words, “We all go through a specific maturational period in which, thanks to the appropriate external stimuli, our ability to speak a language will develop rapidly.”
Therefore, children who are taught several languages during their childhood and pre-adolescence, They will surely be able to correctly acquire the bases of these languages This does not happen with adults, since their plasticity, their ability to acquire languages, is no longer in such good shape.
How does language acquisition occur?
According to Noam Chomsky’s theory, the process of language acquisition only occurs if the child deduces the implicit rules of language, such as notions of syntactic structure or grammar.
For us to be able to develop and learn language during childhood, Chomsky argued that We all have a “language acquisition device” in our brains The hypothesis of the existence of this device would enable us to learn the norms and recurrences that constitute language. Over the years, Noam Chomsky revised his theory and included the analysis of several guiding principles of language, in relation to its acquisition during childhood.
These principles, such as the existence of grammar and various syntactic rules, are common to all languages. On the other hand, there are other elements that vary depending on the language we study.
The learning process and the evolution of language
As Chomsky explains, Human language allows us to express an infinite number of ideas, information and emotions Consequently, language is a social construction that continues to evolve. Society sets the guidelines for the norms and common uses of language, both in its oral and written versions.
In fact, it is very common for children to use language in a very particular way: mixing concepts, inventing words, distorting others, constructing sentences in their own way… Little by little, their brain assimilates the rules and recurrences of the language, committing each and fewer errors and properly using the wide range of artifacts that the language offers them.
Criticisms and controversies around Chomsky’s theory
The theory of Universal Grammar formulated by Noam Chomsky does not have unanimity within the scientific community and academic. In fact, it is an idea that, although it had a strong impact on the study of language acquisition, is considered outdated, and Chomsky himself has changed his position on this aspect. Critical currents argue that, with the idea of Universal Grammar, Chomsky made an error in his postulates: overgeneralization.
The sectors that have most questioned Chomsky’s theory reject the postulate of the language acquisition device because, they argue, it does not have any type of empirical support. Other academics have criticized the American linguist’s theory for its excessive nativism and therefore for not sufficiently collecting environmental factors in language acquisition.
These criticisms have caused, over the years, Chomsky to review and modify some aspects of his postulates, while adding new evidence and complementary aspects to this body of knowledge.
