Blog 8

Humans are the only known species to acquire a complex language. We are able to express ourselves in full sentences with the limited grammar that we have. In the Article, "Language Acquisition", by  Henna Lemetyinen she states that infants who are at least 12 months old are able to understand causative languages and grammar. Skinner's conclusion was that children learn language by associating words with meanings. However, Chomsky argued that children will not acquire the tools they need with just the language input alone. He proposed the theory of Universal Grammar and use verb categories with noun categories. Further research suggests that children are sensitive to patterns in language and will detect utterances from what they have heard.

Language Acquisition