The Innate Theory

Introduction

The Innate Theory (also known as Innatist Theory, Nativist

Theory, Rationalist Theory, Mentalist Theory) of language
acquisition was developed in the mid-20th century (1959) by
the renowned American linguist Noam Chomsky. It emerged
as a reaction against the Behaviourist language learning
theory, and contradicted its model at almost every point of
basic structure. Although Chomsky is credited to be its
originator, in reality, the theory has been around for hundreds
of years. Chomsky’s proposal just breathed a new life into the
old concept and confirmed its formalisation. Though radical in
many ways, it was able to lay out some major connotations for
understanding language acquisition. In the last few decades,
the amount of discussion about first language acquisition in
the context of the Innate Theory has grown considerably.
Theoretical Bases
The theoretical assumptions underlying the Innate Theory are
as follows:
 Language acquisition is innately determined; that is,

children are biologically programmed for language

learning. They develop language in the same way as
other biological functions. They start to speak at roughly
the same age and proceed through roughly the same
stages.
 Children are born with a special ability to systematically

discover for themselves the underlying rules of a

language system. This special ability enables them to
learn the complexities of language in a relatively short
period of time.
  Environmental differences may be associated with some
variation in the rate of language acquisition.
Evidence Used to Support Chomsky’s Innate Theory
Eric Lenneberg's concept of a critical period is the best
evidence for Chomskian proposal. Lenneberg suggested that
there is a biologically pre-determined period of life during
which language can be acquired most easily. Beyond this time
language becomes increasingly difficult to acquire. Through
this statement Lenneberg provided a strong support for the
Chomskian claim that language is innately determined and in
the existence of an innate universal set of grammar. This is
still a controversial view, and many linguists and
psychologists do not believe language is as innate as Chomsky
argues. Yet, he presents abundant evidence to support the view
that the form of language is innate:

The Poverty of the Stimulus Argument: The first argument

in favour of this statement is concerned with the logical
problem of language acquisition, which the behaviourists
failed to recognise. This argument is known as The Poverty of
the Stimulus Argument. The argument states that:
 Virtually all children successfully learn their native

language at a time in life when they would not be

expected to learn anything else so complicated.
 The language the child is exposed to in the environment

is full of confusing information and does not provide all

the information which the child needs.
 Children are by no means systematically corrected or
instructed on language by parents.
  When parents correct, they tend to focus on meaning
rather than form, and children often ignore the correction
and continue to use their own ways of saying things.
 Children learn to use very complex language structures
without instruction or large numbers of examples of all
the linguistic rules and patterns that they eventually
know.
 Children produce words they never heard before (e.g.
puted), this cannot be the result of imitation, but must be
the result of a creative process.
Language Universals: To justify this argument Chomsky
opines that, language is not a set of habits, but it is rule-
governed; subsequently, the mind is responsible for the
perception and processing of linguistic data because it is
genetically equipped with a device that make language
acquisition possible. This mechanism is referred to as LAD
(Language Acquisition Device). LAD consists of Universal
Grammar (UG) and all the languages are basically formed
with that universal ground. UG does not claim that all human
languages have the same grammar, or that all humans are
programmed with a structure that underlies all surface
expressions of human language. Rather UG provides a set of
basic grammatical elements or fixed elements or fixed abstract
principles that are common in all natural languages, which
explains how children acquire their language(s) or how they
construct valid sentences of their language in a relatively short
period of time. Chomsky defined these abstract
representations of grammatical rules as language universals.
Chomsky says that there are two types of language universals:
i. Substantive Universal: The substantive universals consist
of fixed features of language like phonemes or syntactic
categories like nouns (N) and verbs (V). Let us consider,
 for example, some distinctive phonological features. One
of them is “voicing” that differentiates /p/ from /b/ in the
pronunciation of such words as pin and bin, or “nasality”
that makes the difference between /b/ and /m/ in bad and
mad.
ii. Formal Universal: The formal universals are the general
principles which determine the form and the manner of
operation of grammatical rules of particular language.
Chomsky further argues that the universal principles that
children discover form their core grammar. On the other
hand, the rules or features that are not determined by universal
grammar form their peripheral grammar. Rules of core
grammar might be easier to acquire than the rules of the
peripheral grammar, since the latter are thought to be outside
of the child’s programmed instruction.
Counterarguments on the InnateTheory
To some extent, the Innate Theory seems complementary to
the Behaviourist Theory, whose major principles are further
clarified and then developed by the innate theorists. The
following arguments represent the fact that some of the
precepts of the Innate Theory should be refined:
 Language acquisition is not totally of inborn nature nor is

it just a matter of biological make-up. There is also an

undeniable effect in language learning coming from the
social environment since infants grow up biologically in
a social environment from which they cannot be
divorced. The presence of a mother and father in front of
a child establishes a natural social environment.
 The psychologist Jerome Bruner opined that language

acquisition not only depend on LAD but also LASS or

Language Acquisition Support System. It is possible
 that children have inborn capability to follow certain
grammatical principles, but their acquisition of words
depends crucially on their environment. For example,
English children learn English because; their Language
Acquisition support System is English.
 The use and influence of imitations and reinforcements
cannot totally be denied or disregarded by saying that
they destroy or relegate the possible creativity in
language learning. For example, the role of imitations
and repetitions cannot be wholly denied in such areas like
learning vocabulary items and structural patterns.
Criticism
Although this theory provides what some claim is a reasonable
explanation about acquiring language, this theory lacks
sufficient evidence. Some of the cases against this theory
include:

Firstly, the LAD is an abstract concept and lacks adequate

scientific support.

Secondly the theory is heavily based on the learner’s linguistic

competence which is again abstract phenomenon.

Thirdly, the theory placed more emphasis on the linguistic

competence of adult native speakers, but not enough on the
developmental aspects of language acquisition.
Conclusion
Chomsky's work has been highly controversial, rekindling the
age-old debate over whether language exists in the mind
before experience. Despite its few limitations, the Innate
Theory is rich enough to provide a substantial idea of how a
child acquires his/her first language.
References
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Konieczna, Ewa. “First Language Acquisition”. Uniwersytet

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