CHOMSKY
PRINCIPLES AND PARAMETERS OF
INNATENESS
INTRODUCTION OF CHOMSKY
• An American linguist, philosopher, cognitive, scientist,
social critic and historian.
• Born in December 7,1928.
• Sometimes described as Father of modern linguistics.
• He is the author of over 100 book on politics and
linguistics.
• He developed the theory of transformational grammar.
• He is credited as the creator of universal grammar theory ,
the generative grammar and some other theories.
INTRODUCTION
• Chomsky’s work has been
highly influential in a wide
array of academic fields.
• Chomsky has been one of the
profound scholar of his own
generation.
• He continued to publish his
linguistic ideas in 1966
including, in Aspects of the
theory of Syntax, topics in
the theory of generative
grammar.
INTRODUCTION
• Within the field of linguistics,
Chomsky has introduced “ cognitive
revolution”.
• The basis of Chomsky's linguistic
theory is rooted in biolinguistics,
holding the concept that the
principles underlying the structure of
language are biologically determined
in human mind and genetically
transmitted. Therefore, he argued
that all humans are having same
linguistics structure, irrespective of
the sociocultural differences.
CHOMSKY’S CRITICISM
• Chomsky criticised the work of B.F
Skinner.
• Chomsky has played a pivotal role in
the decline of Behaviourism.
• Chomsky argued against the skinner’s
view of language as learned behaviour.
• He said that Skinner has ignored the
role of human creativity in linguistics.
• He said that Behaviourism cannot
provide sufficient explanations for child
language acquisition.
INNATENESS OF LANGUAGE
• Innateness means language is
present by birth.
• Only a human’s baby is born
with language ability. It is clear,
then, that there must be some
element in our biology that
accounts for this unique ability.
• An innate form of knowledge
specific to language, is a
concrete theory.
INNATENESS
• Chomsky has proposed that human posses a
structure for the knowledge of possible language,
which enables young human to acquire language
with speed, efficiency and uniformity.
• Chomsky talks about psychology in relation to
linguistics. He was not a structuralist but he was
inspired by De Saussure.
• He purposed that “ all children share the same
internal constraints which characterized narrowly
the grammar they are going to construct”.
INNATENESS
• Chomsky explained about ‘poverty of
stimulus’ in language learning process.
• Argument from the ‘poverty of stimulus’ :
1. Knowledge of language consist of
knowing its grammar.
2.Grammar could not be learned.
3. Universal grammar in innately known.
4. Grammar is present in minds of
speakers is by default bioprgorame.
INNATENESS
• The linguistic development of every human being is
amazing. When a child is born, he does not speak and
understand the language of his social environment.
• But after some years every child speaks and understand
the language of his environment and he also understand
what and how peoples communicate with each others.
• After some additional years, child is a fluent user of
first language.
• Chomsky argued by giving the concept of ‘linguistic
competency’ ( Hard-wired of language).
INNATENESS
• The human language learning
mechanism based on LAD (
Language Acquisition Device),
the part of the brain to build
knowledge about language.
UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR
UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR
• In the 1960s, Chomsky purposed a
revolutionary idea:
• We are all born with an innate
knowledge of grammar that serves
as the basis for all language
acquisition. In other words, for
humans, language is a basic
instinct.
• Rules generate language.
• UG is part of an innate biologically
endowed language faculty.
UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR
• All human languages have certain common
points related to grammar and those common
points are subject, object and verb. That’s why
he says that language is having structured
dependency; language cannot be without
structure.
• UG is a theory relevant to the issue of
linguistic competence, i.e., a theory as to the
nature of grammatical representation
MACAHNISM OF INNATE
THEORY
• Structure dependency of UG :
Input BLACK BOX Output
Black box= LAD ( Language Acquisition
Device)
• Children are born with LAD.
• UG contains certain principles and
parameters for language acquisition.
• He argued that human is born with a
fundamental understanding of principles
for language production..
INNATE THEORY
• Basically universal grammar is not a grammar in the
ordinary sense. It is system of conditions because every
first language learning process of human beings is fulfil
with the universal grammar. The importance if
universal grammar and its generic features are apparent
in theory of principle and parameter that has been
developed within the research programme of universal
grammar.
• In the past, LAD had been taken as equated with UG, t
it would be more accurate to think of UG as just part of
an LAD or part of language faculty.
CRITICAL PERIOD OF
HYPOTHESIS
“Biologically determined period of life when
language can be acquired more easily and beyond
which language is increasingly difficult to acquire”
• The hypothesis claims that there is an ideal time
window to acquire language.
• Lenneberg accepted the claim given by Chomsky
about innateness of language.
• Lanneberg says, that a child can learn a language
within a specific period of time that period start
from 10 to 13 years old and once the period is
over so a child cannot acquired language.
CRITICAL PERIOD
HYPOTHESIS
• Children having a certain amount of time to acquire
language, until the age of 13 years language is present in
both hemisphere on human brain.
• In this period, Berg says that at the age of 3 a child can start
to speak right grammatical sentence and within 13 years old
fluency also become apparent in this period.
• After 13 years of age, child starts dropping out certain rules.
• If a language input does not occur until after this time, the
individual will never achieve full command of language
especially grammatical system.
• William Syndrome: ‘Language will finish at specific time
because of suppressed development’.
CRITICISM ON CRITICAL
PERIOD HYPOTHESIS
• In 1970s, the case of critical period
hypothesis was brought in media.
• An experiment on a child called Genie
was discovered in scientific report. In
experiment, she was locked away from
normal civilization and was
undeveloped physically and
emotionally. Genie was an infant who
trapped in 13 years old body because
she could only make infant like sounds
and no words or sentences.
CRITICISM
• Then, after training of 8 months
for language teaching, Genie used
to speak English as other native
speaker.
• This experiment rejected CPH.
• Intelligence can be finished but
language cannot be finished.
• Loss of memory can occur but
language can never disappear.
• Cognition process will never ever
stops in human’s life.
PRINCIPLES
‘The universal basic features of grammar’
• Principles related to first language acquisition.
• ‘Language faculty is above all the faculties in
human brain’ said by Chomsky.
• Limited number of rules exist in human mind
and we can construct unlimited number of
sentences.
• UG contains the core rules of grammar.
PRINCIPLES
• Structural positions of sentences in cognition
filled by the lexicons.
• Principles are linguistic universals.
• Chomsky talks about theory driven.
PARAMETERS
• There are certain parameters. Parameters are vary
language to language because every language has
its own parameters that a child needs to set.
1. PRO DROP PARAMETER:
• There are certain parameters of certain languages
for example pro drop parameters. There are
certain languages which drop pronouns and
nouns.
Example: Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and Japanese
languages.
• There are pro drop languages.
PARAMETERS
Example: I say ‘Speak’, then listener will
understand that noun is by default present there.
• But English, German, French, Urdu, Persian and
Turkish languages are having non pro drop
parameters, because parameters do not drop
subject in these languages.
• In English language, a sentence cannot be
completed without subject.
• Black Ver necular language drop ‘copular’ means
helping verb or auxiliary verbs.
Example: I teaching.
PARAMETERS
2. HEAD PARAMETER:
• Head parameters, In English language head comes
before action in sentence. Head is first parameter in
English language.
Example: NP N is head
VP V is head
3. POST-POSITION PARAMETER:
• Urdu, Japanese, Persian, Turkish and Hindi languages
are post position languages.
Example: Clitic subject: It was this I wanted for.
Dummy subject: It was this I was wanted.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
PRINCIPLES AND PARAMETERS
PRINCIPLES:
• Principles are set of rules.
• Set phenomena that a child is born with.
• Principles are fixed.
• All the similarities which are present in all human
languages.
• Principles are innate and related to first language.
• Principles are Linguistics ground.
• Language principle are gifted by GOD.
DIFFERENCE
PARAMETERS:
• Parameters are variable.
• Parameters vary from one language to another.
• Parameters are Acquired and related to second
language.
• Parameters construct the linguistics rules.
• Parameters are sentence structure of the
language.
Linguistic competence:
• Ability of linguistic knowledge and
grammatical linguistic knowledge in language
Linguistics Performance:
• Actual use of linguistic knowledge is called
linguistic performance.
• Chomsky talks about ‘I’ language and ‘E’
language.
‘I’ Language:
• ‘I‘ language is called Internal language is
similar to competence and langue but not
identical.
• I language is essentially concern to mind,
cognition, abstract.
‘E’ Language
• ‘E’ Language is called external language.
• It is similar to parole and performance but not
identical.
• ‘E’ language is essentially related to
performance based on convention, society,
situation and environment.
CONCLUSION
Children's acquisition of grammatical rules is
guided by principles of an innate UG which
could apply to all human languages.
Children know certain things of the language
just by being exposed to the limited number of
sentences and can produce multiple number of
sentences.
Language is separated from other aspects of
cognitive development.
CONCLUSION
We can conclude about Chomsky’s views that :
Children are biologically programmed for
language.
Human brain contains LAD which contains all
and only the principles which are universal to
all human languages i.e. Universal Grammar.
Once the LAD is activated in human brain.
He will discover the structure of the language to
be learned.
