Behaviorist vs. Chomsky's Theories on Language Acquisition

A. Behaviorist Theory

The behaviorist theory, proposed by B.F. Skinner in 1957, explains the acquisition of language from the standpoint of operant conditioning.

• Classical conditioning is the association between a stimulus that reinforces certain behavior. Operant conditioning is the same response that serves as reinforcement.
• Skinner and his followers believed that the link between words and their meanings is a bond of association established through simultaneous perceptions and the repetition of certain sounds and objects.
• This reductionist interpretation of language and the process by which it is acquired fails to explain only some secondary and minor aspects. It does not clarify essential features such as the acquisition of grammatical structures and syntax, nor the evolution of language throughout the history of mankind.

B. Chomsky's Contributions

Chomsky emphasizes the creative character of language use by speakers. He argues that a speaker can produce and understand countless sentences they have not heard before, making infinite use of finite means. This infinite use of finite means is determined by syntax.

• All languages have common features called language universals, general principles that determine the grammatical structures of languages.
• What is common to all languages is syntax. It is necessary to discuss their knowledge, and it is so complex that it requires an innate predisposition to acquire.
• The ability to speak is genetically determined, and linguistic universals are inscribed in the genetic code, which is why they are communicable to all languages.
• The ability to acquire language is innate, or a device of language acquisition, and language is specifically trained to learn any language. This structure underlies the structure of thought; therefore, language is an independent knowledge system governed by its own laws.
• Language learning is a process predetermined by inheritance, partly triggered and shaped by the environment.
• Chomsky and his followers studied early verbal children to identify their syntax and deduce linguistic universals, but their investigations did not achieve their proposed goals. They neglected two aspects that are now considered fundamental: semantics and nonverbal communication.