Name: Rosel I.

Marbella BMSEE II-17

Innatism
Noam Chomsky

What is Innatism? Innatism (Nativism) - It’s all in mind

Mind as the main driver Believes that the main driver of language learning is the
of Language Learning mind with only a little help from the environment.

Noam Chomsky NOAM CHOMSKY - the main proponent

POVERTY of the Stimulus

Poverty of the Stimulus
A child is exposed to:

● slurred speech
● half sentences
● slips of the tongue
● mispronunciation

Yet, the child's grammar is perfect!

Example:

John himself went to the market.

John went to the market himself.
*John went himself to the market.

How innatism interprets errors

How innatism interprets
errors ● Result of learners testing their hypotheses about the
rules.
● The learner's grammar is internally correct.
● Errors are just inconsistency with the socially
accepted grammar.

Ex. is OVER-GENERALIZATION
Over-generalization
Ex. Sheeps, tooths, goed, bringed
Acquire Rules
● Shows that learners are applying rules
 ● Shows that learners acquire rules, not imitate speech

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

LAD
Separate portion of the ● Innatists believe that there is a separate faculty
brain (portion) of the brain dedicated to language
acquisition
Found in UG ● LAD is found in the Universal Grammar
\
UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR
Universal Grammar
● Unformed grammar that needs to be molded into
specific grammars
● Determines how grammar is shaped through the use
of constraints

Acquisitions of Rules

RULES ● Rules, not sentences, are acquired

● With a finite set of sounds and words, learners
produce infinite sentences
● Frequently, you have never heard the same sentence
being said before but you know its meaning.

Summary of Innatism Summary of INNATISM Beliefs

Beliefs
Language is a human-specific faculty:
- Language exists in
human mind Language exists as an independent faculty in the human
mind, i.e., although it is part of the learner's total cognitive
- Responsible for apparatus, it is separate from the general cognitive
intellectual mechanisms responsible for intellectual development.
development
Properties of language that are common to all languages
(language universals) are easier to learn than properties
- Properties of specific to only a few languages (or to just one language).
language common This may explain why CAH failed.
to language
universals are Universal Grammar limits the possible options that core
easier to learn grammar rules may take. It is the environment (input) that
tells the learner which of the options is to be followed for a
- Universal given language. (This is like biological evolution.)
 Grammar limits

- Markedness - rules There are rules that are not obtained from UG. This is called
not obtained from markedness.
UG
The primary determinant of L1 acquisition is the child's
"acquisition device," which is genetically endowed and
provides the child with a set of principles about grammar.

Children’s acquisition The acquisition device atrophies with age.

device
The process of acquisition consists of
hypothesis-testing, by which means the grammar of the
learner’s mother tongue is related to the principles of
the “universal grammar”.

Summary

Innatism proposed by Noam Chomsky, believes that the main driver of language
learning is the mind with only a little help from the environment. Chomsky uses the
term poverty of the stimulus to refer to the insufficiency of the input from the
environment to account for the ability of language learners including children to learn a
language. A child is exposed to slurred speech, half sentences, slips of the tongue, and
mispronunciation. Innatism interprets errors, example of this is over-generalization
where children acquire rule rather than intimating speech.