Mentalism

THEORIES
OF
LANGUAGE
LEARNING
Mentalistic Approach
OBJECTIVES
Background
Mentalism
Difference of Behaviourism and Mentalism
Basic Concepts of Mentalism
CHOMSKY’S CRITICISM ON BEHAVIOURISM
Chomsky, in A Review of B F Skinner’s Verbal Behaviour (1959), used language

as a tool for critique of Skinner’s behaviourism.
According to Chomsky, learning is not possible only through repetition and
reinforcement as advocated by Skinner.
Chomsky believes that a child has the ability to use finite set of rules to construct
infinite sentences, and s/he can create phrases which they have never heard before.
CHOMSKY’S ARGUMENTS AGAINST
THE BEHAVIORIST THEORY
1. Imitation fails to account for the fact that children produce sentences they never heard before in
their environment (creativity in language)
2. Imitation fails to account for the fact that children make mistakes they never heard in their
environment (e.g. *daddy goed now.)
3. Imitation fails to account for the fact that from a finite set of rules, children can produce an
infinite number of sentences.
4. Imitation fails to explain how by the age of 5, a normal child will have internalized all the rules
of language with exceptional ease and speed.
5. Imitation fails to explain how children exposed to different input (e.g. different dialects of the
same language) ultimately derive the same rules of the language.
Innate Theory
Nativist Theory
Rationalist Theory
Mentalist Theory
Innatist Theory
Psycholinguistic Theory of language Learning
MENTALISM
Chomskyan Hierarchy has been established through his continuous
writing over a span of half a century. He has authored several seminal
texts including the following which have contributed significantly
to cognitive science through linguistics.
INFLUENT • Syntactic Structures (1957),

• Aspects of the Theory of Syntax
• Knowledge of Language: Its
Nature, Origin and Use (1986)
IAL TEXTS (1965),

• Cartesian Linguistics (1966),
• Language and Problems of
Knowledge (1988), Language and
OF • Language and Mind (1968)

Thought (1993)
• Language and the Problem of
CHOMSKY • The Logical Structure of

Linguistic Theory (1975)
Knowledge (1994), The
Minimalist Program (1995)
• Reflections on Language (1976) • The Architecture of Language
(2000)
• Language and Responsibility
(1977) • and On Nature and Language
(2002)
• Lectures on Government and
Binding (1982)
INTRODUCTION
In 1959, the mentalistic theory of language leaning by American linguist
Noam Chomsky was presented as a reaction against the Behavioristic
language learning theory, and it contradicted the behavioristic standards
at almost every point.

MAJOR PRINCIPLE OF
MENTALISM
The major principle of Mentalistic language acquisition theory is that
"everybody learns a language, not because they are subjected to a similar
conditioning process, but because they possess an inborn capacity which
permits them to acquire a language as a normal Maturational Process". In 1965
in a book titled “Aspects of the Theory of Syntax”, Chomsky claimed that
there are innate properties of language because a child masters his native
language in a very short time in spite of the highly abstract nature of rules.
Chomsky, Linguistic Theory, 1965
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE
Chomsky called this innate knowledge as Language Acquisition Device (LAD). He also
insisted that every normal human being is born into a society with a language faculty
called LAD, which embodies the nature and the structure of human language. LAD is
what counts for language acquisition where in environment has got no importance for
the learning process at all. The language faculty contains innate knowledge of various
linguistic rules, constraints and principles; this innate knowledge constitutes the ‘initial
state’ of the language faculty.
Chomsky, Linguistic Theory, 1965

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE
LAD is the imaginary “black box” which exists somewhere in the brain.
It is thought to contain all and only the principles which are universal to all human languages.
For the LAD to work, the child needs access only to samples of a natural language. These language
samples serve as a trigger to activate the device.
Once it is activated, the child is able to discover the structure of the language to be learned by matching the
innate knowledge of basic grammatical relationships to the structures of the particular language in the
environment.
More recently, Chomsky and his followers no longer use the term LAD, but refers to the child‟s innate
endowment as Universal Grammar (UG)
MACNEILL (1966) VIEWS ABOUT LAD
McNeill (1966) described LAD as consisting of four innate linguistic properties:
 The ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sounds in the environment
 The ability to organize linguistic data into various classes that can later be refined
 Knowledge that only a certain kind of linguistic system is possible
 The ability to engage in constant evaluation of the developing linguistic system to

construct the simplest possible system out of the available linguistic input
THE MENTALIST APPROACH
Noam Chomsky's focus is on what is in the mind (anathema to Behaviourists because the
mind cannot be directly observed).
"For Chomsky language exists first and foremost in the mind and is used above all in
thought and expressing our ideas to ourselves.
While the same system is also used to express ideas to other people and communicate with
them, this is not its primary or most frequent function." (Chapman, 2006: 41)
When Robinson Crusoe was alone on his desert island he had no one to communicate with or to provide
stimuli, but he was still using language in his thoughts.
FINITE MEANS BUT
INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
Language must provide "finite means but infinite possibilities of expression" Chomsky, 1966
We have a finite number of words and structures but there is no limit to the ways we can
combine them to produce novel utterances.
Behaviourism implies a collection of socially appropriate responses to certain stimuli,
therefore a lack of creativity. For Chomsky we are all capable of producing a sentence that
has never been said before in the history of the human species.
LANGUAGE IS RULE-BASED
Our implicit knowledge of the rules of our native language allow us to
make judgements about grammaticality.
Behaviourism stresses imitation. Mentalism (Chomskyan linguistics)
stresses creativity.
UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR (UG)
For Chomsky the essential rules are universal to all languages.

Universal
Grammar
All languages consist of nouns, verbs and adjectives. All sound systems
consist of consonants and vowels. Principles Parameters
Individual languages permit different ways of combining these

components but according to the theory of UG the variations occur
within certain parameters.
THE INNATE HYPOTHESIS (IH )
We are born with the rules of UG; they are part of our genetic endowment.
This would explain why we all learn our native language perfectly and quickly
(typically in about four years).

COMPETENC
E AND
PERFORMAN
CE
COMPETENCE AND
PERFORMANCE
HISTORY
COMPETENCE
Competence is a person’s underlying (subconscious) linguistic ability to create and

understand sentences, including sentences they have never heard before.
It’s a person's acquaintance with a set of grammatical rules and is different from the
actual linguistic activities.
Linguistic competence includes components such as phonetics, phonology, syntax,

semantics and morphology.
PERFORMANCE
Performance is the real-world linguistic output.
May accurately reflect competence, but it also may include speech errors.
Performance may be flawed because of memory limitations, distractions, shifts of attention

and interest, and errors (random or characteristic) or other psychological factors.
Represents only a small sample of possible utterances.

MENTALISM SUMMARY
Language acquisition is biologically programmed
Humans possess innate (native) ability for language

Noam Chomsky posited that people are born with language acquisition device (LAD), a brain system
that allows children to quickly learn language
Language easily acquired during critical period (ages 2-9)

LAD most active during these early years of development (~2-9)
Time-sensitive period early in life during which language acquisition is easier (with proper exposure), as
compared to the period afterward, during which language acquisition is much more difficult
Criticism of the Mentalists
1. Chomsky presents an ideal speaker-listener in a completely

homogsenous speech-community whose judgements and intuitions
are infallible. This is not the real world.
2. His work is not the result of empirical research based on

observation. Speculations upon what is in the mind is little more
than an act of faith.
3. It is wrong to give so little attention to language as communication

and to ignore performance.
In defence of Chomsky
1. There is no proof that UG or the IH exist but also no evidence to
disprove either claim. There have been no recorded cases of children
with normal brains and with normal exposure to language failing to
learn their mother tongue.
2. Chomsky’s work has led to important insights in how first and second
languages are acquired.
THANK YOU

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THEORIES

Chomsky, in A Review of B F Skinner’s Verbal Behaviour (1959), used language

INFLUENT • Syntactic Structures (1957),

IAL TEXTS (1965),

OF • Language and Mind (1968)

CHOMSKY • The Logical Structure of

In 1959, the mentalistic theory of language leaning by American linguist

Noam Chomsky was presented as a reaction against the Behavioristic

language learning theory, and it contradicted the behavioristic standards

at almost every point.

Chomsky, Linguistic Theory, 1965

McNeill (1966) described LAD as consisting of four innate linguistic properties:

 Knowledge that only a certain kind of linguistic system is possible

 The ability to engage in constant evaluation of the developing linguistic system to

combine them to produce novel utterances.

Behaviourism implies a collection of socially appropriate responses to certain stimuli,

Our implicit knowledge of the rules of our native language allow us to

make judgements about grammaticality.

Behaviourism stresses imitation. Mentalism (Chomskyan linguistics)

For Chomsky the essential rules are universal to all languages.

Individual languages permit different ways of combining these

(typically in about four years).

Competence is a person’s underlying (subconscious) linguistic ability to create and

Linguistic competence includes components such as phonetics, phonology, syntax,

Performance is the real-world linguistic output.

Performance may be flawed because of memory limitations, distractions, shifts of attention

Represents only a small sample of possible utterances.

Humans possess innate (native) ability for language

Language easily acquired during critical period (ages 2-9)

1. Chomsky presents an ideal speaker-listener in a completely

2. His work is not the result of empirical research based on

3. It is wrong to give so little attention to language as communication

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