PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Noam Chomsky, Language Acquisition, Reinforcement Learning
2 Jul 2018
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21/05/2018 Language Development
4 aspects of language
oPhonology: the sounds used by the speakers of a language (how sounds go together)
oSemantics: the meaning of words and utterances
oGrammar/Syntax: the form or structure of a language – rules for combining words
into meaningful sentences
oPragmatics: the principles specifying how language is used in conversation; how
discourse is structed (implying something without saying it)
3 approaches to language acquisition:
oEmpiricist (e.g. Skinner, Bandura) – learning approach (nurture)
oNativists (e.g. Chomsky, Pinker) – innate language knowledge/learning guidelines
(nature)
oInteractionist/Constructivist (Bates, Tomasello) – Domain-general maturation and
cognitive/social learning account for language. Language emerges/is constructed
from other faculties
Behaviourist
(Skinner): acquisition via positive reinforcement for saying words and sentences – frequency
of maternal responsiveness at 9 months predicts language acquisition at 17 months
Bandura: social learning perspective – learning by imitation and reinforcement
BUT: Chomsky says these accounts are not sufficient to explain the sophistication of
language acquisition
Nativist
(Noam Chomsky): humans have an inborn capacity for language learning, a Language
Acquisition Device (LAD) – a set of perpetual and cognitive abilities that analyse linguistic
input – reinforcement learning (proposed by behaviourist) and learning-through-action
mechanisms cannot explain the acquisition of human language – human language is too
computationally complex for someone to just “get it” – language must have special innate
properties!
Recursion: sentences can be embedded within sentences – no other primate communication
system shows recursion; other primates communicate with a very limited number of
messages, while human language is infinitely generative!
Interactionist-Constructivist
Language acquisition is a product of the interaction between maturation and environmental
factors and is tied to cognitive development
Language emerges from domain-general cognitive and social learning mechanisms
Language development – biological maturation; neural development; cognitive
development; linguistic and environment
(Tomasello): more powerful learning mechanisms can explain the complexities of language
without the need for a universal grammar
Language development in early childhood - children’s vocabulary grows from 100-2000
words at age 2, to 5000-20000 words at age 7
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
3 approaches to language acquisition: empiricist (e. g. skinner, bandura) learning approach (nurture, nativists (e. g. chomsky, pinker) innate language knowledge/learning guidelines (nature, interactionist/constructivist (bates, tomasello) domain-general maturation and cognitive/social learning account for language. Behaviourist (skinner): acquisition via positive reinforcement for saying words and sentences frequency of maternal responsiveness at 9 months predicts language acquisition at 17 months. Bandura: social learning perspective learning by imitation and reinforcement. But: chomsky says these accounts are not sufficient to explain the sophistication of language acquisition. Nativist (noam chomsky): humans have an inborn capacity for language learning, a language. Recursion: sentences can be embedded within sentences no other primate communication system shows recursion; other primates communicate with a very limited number of messages, while human language is infinitely generative! Language acquisition is a product of the interaction between maturation and environmental factors and is tied to cognitive development. Language emerges from domain-general cognitive and social learning mechanisms.
