Home > Psychology MCQ Questions and Answers > Which of the following reflects a core idea in Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition?
Which of the following reflects a core idea in Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition?
A
Language skills develop primarily between the ages of three and five
B
Language learning depends on rewards and reinforcements received by the child
C
Children pick up language errors by imitating those around them
D
Children are born with an inherent knowledge of grammatical structure
Correct Answer:
D
Children are born with an inherent knowledge of grammatical structure
- Proposed by Noam Chomsky, this idea forms the basis of the nativist theory of language acquisition.
- Chomsky argued that children possess an inborn mechanism called Universal Grammar (UG), which contains fundamental rules common to all languages.
- This explains how children can rapidly acquire complex grammar despite limited and imperfect input from their environment.
- Unlike behaviorist views, language learning is not dependent on rewards, imitation, or reinforcement.
- Children often produce sentences they have never heard before, showing creative language use, not mere copying.
- The theory also accounts for the similar stages of language development across cultures.
- Errors made by children (e.g., overgeneralization like “goed”) indicate internal rule formation rather than imitation.