Chomsky and his Nativist Theory

Hello everyone!! :)

Today I want to make a post just to share a reflexion I wrote for my English and its teaching class. It was one of the assignments on the topics we've been working with. It is about Noam Chomsky's idea of the innateness of human language. Later on I will deal with the rest of the topics worked in class.

According to Chomsky children are born with what he calls LAD (Language Acquisition Device). This device is the reason why any children can acquire any language in any place. The theory is that the child gets input and from that input the LAD sets the parameters of Universal Grammar. The latter refers to the set of principles and parameters of all human languages. It is as if the child has all the knowledge about grammar and activates it as s/he processes the input. He says that “the things that are missing from the input are added by the UG”. This is why children often come up with complex sentences which they had never heard before.

This theory is great for me but unfortunately it cannot be proved. The only way to see if it is true would be to have access to the “black box” in which children process the input they get and set the parameters. I like this theory and I like it a lot because I believe that things always go beyond what we know concretely. It would be like believing there is only life on planet Earth and not acknowledging the wideness and possibilities that the universe has.Children must have something inside their minds. And why not a device which helps them to acquire language? His idea is revolutionary and that is why I like it.

The abilities our minds have are awesome. If you don't agree just read this...