Language Development
Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.
Chomsky & Language Development
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When do children understand their first
words?
When do children say their first words?
Simple sentences?
Theories of Language
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Prior to 1950s: Behavioral theories
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B. F. Skinner
Idea: language is reinforced or punished
Problem: children are always creating things they
have never heard before.
Children misapply the rules of language.
1950: Chomsky
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Language is prewired in a baby’s brain.
There is a universal language that gets
inherited through our DNA.
The language acquisition device (LAD)
Metaphor: a seed language gets inherited
through the genes. Out of this seed language
would blossom all past, present, and future
languages of the world.
Support for Chomsky
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Explanation for why humans are the only
creatures with a capacity for language.
Criticism of Chomsky’s theory
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Children do learn by rewards and punishment.
Is this only unique to humans? What about
trained chimps, gorillas, etc.
Where is the LAD?

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