2024年2月25日发(作者：接意致)
The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a postulated "organ" of the brain that is supposed to
function as a congenital device for learning symbolic language (i.e.,language acquisition). First
proposed by Noam Chomsky, the LAD concept is an instinctive mental capacity which enables an
infant to acquire and produce language. It is component of the nativist theory of language. This
theory asserts that humans are born with the instinct or "innate facility" for acquiring language.
Chomsky has gradually abandoned the LAD in favour of a parameter-setting model of language
acquisition (principles and parameters).
Chomsky motivated the LAD hypothesis by what he perceived as intractable complexity of
language acquisition, citing the notion of "infinite use of finite means" proposed byWilhelm von
Humboldt. At the time it was conceived (1957–1965), the LAD concept was in strict contrast to
B.F. Skinner's behavioral psychology which emphasized principles of learning theory such as
classical and operant conditioning and imitation over biological predisposition. The interactionist
theory of Jerome Bruner and Jean Piagetlater emphasized the importance of the interaction
between biological and social (nature and nurture) aspects of language acquisition.
Differing from the behaviorists who emphasize the importance of social interactions in language
acquisition, Chomsky (1965) set out an innate language schema which provides the basis for the
child’s acquisition of a language. The acquisition process takes place in an infants mind because of
this mental organ which enables him/her to speak despite the limited nature of the Primary
Linguistic Data (PLD, the input signals received) and the degenerate nature (frequent incorrect
usage, utterances of partial sentences) of that data. Given this poverty of the stimulus, a language
acquisition model requires a number of components. Firstly, the child must have a technique for
representing input signals and, secondly, a way of representing structural information about them.
Thirdly, there must be some initial delimitation of the class of possible language structure
hypotheses. Fourthly, the child requires a method for determining what each of these hypotheses
implies with respect to each sentence. Finally, an additional method is needed by which the child
can select which hypothesis is compatible with the PLD.
Equipped with this endowment, first language learning is explained as performed by a Language
Acquisition Device progressing through the following stages:
The device searches the class of language structure hypotheses and selects those
compatible with input signals and structural information drawn from the PLD.
The device then tests the compatibility using the knowledge of implications of each
hypothesis for the sentences.
One hypothesis or ‘grammar’ is selected as being compatible with the PLD.
This grammar provides the device with a method of interpreting sentences (by virtue of
its capacity for internally representing structural information and applying the grammar to
sentences).
Through this process the device constructs a theory of the language of which the PLD are a
sample. Chomsky argues that in this way, the child comes to know a great deal more than she has
‘learned’, acquiring a knowledge of language, which "goes far beyond the presented primary
linguistic data and is in no sense an 'inductive generalization' from these data."
In some views of language acquisition, the LAD is thought to become unavailable after a certain
age — the critical period hypothesis (i.e., is subject to maturational constraints). Feral children
cases such as Genie provide key examples for the LAD aspect of the nativist theory and that it
becomes unavailable after a certain age.
The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a hypothetical brain mechanism that Noam Chomsky
postulated to explain human acquisition of the syntactic structure of language. This mechanism
endows children with the capacity to derive the syntactic structure and rules of their native
language rapidly and accurately from the impoverished input provided by adult language users.
The device is comprised of a finite set of dimensions along which languages vary, which are set at
different levels for different languages on the basis of language exposure. The LAD reflects
Chomsky's underlying assumption that many aspects of language are universal (common to all
languages and cultures) and constrained by innate core knowledge about language called
Universal Grammar. This theoretical account of syntax acquisition contrasts sharply with the
views of B. F. Skinner, Jean Piaget, and other cognitive and social-learning theorists who
emphasize the role of experience and general knowledge and abilities in language acquisition.
See also: LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Bibliography
Chomsky, Noam. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 1965.
Laura L. Namy
Read more: Language Acquisition Device - Chomsky, Languages, Syntax, Aspects, Lad, and Set
/pages/353/#ixzz1SXI9M5G2
2024年2月25日发(作者：接意致)
The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a postulated "organ" of the brain that is supposed to
function as a congenital device for learning symbolic language (i.e.,language acquisition). First
proposed by Noam Chomsky, the LAD concept is an instinctive mental capacity which enables an
infant to acquire and produce language. It is component of the nativist theory of language. This
theory asserts that humans are born with the instinct or "innate facility" for acquiring language.
Chomsky has gradually abandoned the LAD in favour of a parameter-setting model of language
acquisition (principles and parameters).
Chomsky motivated the LAD hypothesis by what he perceived as intractable complexity of
language acquisition, citing the notion of "infinite use of finite means" proposed byWilhelm von
Humboldt. At the time it was conceived (1957–1965), the LAD concept was in strict contrast to
B.F. Skinner's behavioral psychology which emphasized principles of learning theory such as
classical and operant conditioning and imitation over biological predisposition. The interactionist
theory of Jerome Bruner and Jean Piagetlater emphasized the importance of the interaction
between biological and social (nature and nurture) aspects of language acquisition.
Differing from the behaviorists who emphasize the importance of social interactions in language
acquisition, Chomsky (1965) set out an innate language schema which provides the basis for the
child’s acquisition of a language. The acquisition process takes place in an infants mind because of
this mental organ which enables him/her to speak despite the limited nature of the Primary
Linguistic Data (PLD, the input signals received) and the degenerate nature (frequent incorrect
usage, utterances of partial sentences) of that data. Given this poverty of the stimulus, a language
acquisition model requires a number of components. Firstly, the child must have a technique for
representing input signals and, secondly, a way of representing structural information about them.
Thirdly, there must be some initial delimitation of the class of possible language structure
hypotheses. Fourthly, the child requires a method for determining what each of these hypotheses
implies with respect to each sentence. Finally, an additional method is needed by which the child
can select which hypothesis is compatible with the PLD.
Equipped with this endowment, first language learning is explained as performed by a Language
Acquisition Device progressing through the following stages:
The device searches the class of language structure hypotheses and selects those
compatible with input signals and structural information drawn from the PLD.
The device then tests the compatibility using the knowledge of implications of each
hypothesis for the sentences.
One hypothesis or ‘grammar’ is selected as being compatible with the PLD.
This grammar provides the device with a method of interpreting sentences (by virtue of
its capacity for internally representing structural information and applying the grammar to
sentences).
Through this process the device constructs a theory of the language of which the PLD are a
sample. Chomsky argues that in this way, the child comes to know a great deal more than she has
‘learned’, acquiring a knowledge of language, which "goes far beyond the presented primary
linguistic data and is in no sense an 'inductive generalization' from these data."
In some views of language acquisition, the LAD is thought to become unavailable after a certain
age — the critical period hypothesis (i.e., is subject to maturational constraints). Feral children
cases such as Genie provide key examples for the LAD aspect of the nativist theory and that it
becomes unavailable after a certain age.
The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a hypothetical brain mechanism that Noam Chomsky
postulated to explain human acquisition of the syntactic structure of language. This mechanism
endows children with the capacity to derive the syntactic structure and rules of their native
language rapidly and accurately from the impoverished input provided by adult language users.
The device is comprised of a finite set of dimensions along which languages vary, which are set at
different levels for different languages on the basis of language exposure. The LAD reflects
Chomsky's underlying assumption that many aspects of language are universal (common to all
languages and cultures) and constrained by innate core knowledge about language called
Universal Grammar. This theoretical account of syntax acquisition contrasts sharply with the
views of B. F. Skinner, Jean Piaget, and other cognitive and social-learning theorists who
emphasize the role of experience and general knowledge and abilities in language acquisition.
See also: LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Bibliography
Chomsky, Noam. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 1965.
Laura L. Namy
Read more: Language Acquisition Device - Chomsky, Languages, Syntax, Aspects, Lad, and Set
/pages/353/#ixzz1SXI9M5G2