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... Children who have never heard the word “predicate” use one every time they open their mouths to utter a sentence (Janet Dean Fodor and Carrie Crowther, in Understanding Stimulus Poverty Arguments, 1998). These are some of the points that led Noam Chomsky to his rejection of B.F. Skinner’s ideas on language, and to the development of his widely respected theories, the theory of Universal Grammar (UG), and its offshoot, the Poverty of the Stimulus (PoS) theory.
B.F. ... Skinner claimed that language was a human behaviour just like any other, and with this in mind, stated that language was acquired based on positive or negative reinforcement, and on a trial and error basis (Noam Chomsky, in Reflections on Language, 1975).
Chomsky, however, countered this claim, stating that language is an innate characteristic of the human brain, and is not something that can simply be learned. According to Chomsky, in Reflections on Language (1975), it is impossible for us to place language acquisition in the same category as other learned characteristics for many reasons. For example, the rules we use to determine what is or isn’t grammatically correct are not clearly defined from the moment we begin to speak (as can be seen in Fodor and Crowther’s “subject and predicate” example). Skinner’s behaviourist claim was also incorrect, according to Chomsky, because of what he called the poverty of the stimulus theory, or PoS. An impoverished stimulus, according to linguists Pullum and Scholz, is a stimulus that does not provide enough information for learning to occur solely due to exposure to it (more than just the trial and error process must occur in the person’s mind thus disproving Skinner’s original claim). ...
In order for trial and error to exist, stated Chomsky (in Reflections on Language, 1975), the two components stated therein must be present. ... Mothers may also increase the frequency and repetition of certain words, especially names of family members and words like “mama”, in hopes of building the child’s early vocabulary.
Approximate Word count = 1582
Approximate Pages = 6.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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