ESL 91
FALL, 2001
IN CLASS ESSAYS:
LINGUISTICS

Children raised without the influence of human adults usually have a big problem with language. There are few stages of language acquisition. At the first stage all babies sound alike. At second stage of language, babies acquit in native family. The first sounds baby says around in five-six month. The first word baby says usually in nine month. They start to speak, repeat what they hear. At the same time, parents of a child must stimulate, support, repeat the enunciation child’s words. Usually parents show and name some of the subjects or acts. Usually a child know a few simple words, which he/she can easily pronounce when they are one year old. He/she can pronounce a few simple sentences when he/she is two years old.

Scientists believe that there is a time during which the baby must be exposed to language to acquire language normally. This period fasts from the age of four to the age of twelve. The linguist Noam Chomsky says that the ability to learn and use language is inborn. Human beingsare set up to learn language. In contrast, the psychologist B.F. Skinner believes that the ability to use language depends on the children’s education. Children must be exposed and taught to use language, or they will not acquire it.

Skinner’s theory is supported by cases such as Genie’s. Genie was a 13-year old girl who spent almost all her short life isolated. When at last she was free, she couldn’t say a single word because she hadn’t communicated with people.

So communication is one of the most important factors that helps us to develop a language. I read a story about a four year old boy who was lost in a woods in Siberia, in Russia. This boy spent four years among wolves. He forgot his native language. In another example, Russian soldier was captive by Taliban. He spent more than nine years in slavery. He became mentally sick. When American journalists stolen him, they found out that he absolutely didn’t remember his native language. My example support the theory that communication and environment influence language acquisition.

A family is not the only one who teaches a baby or child native language. Children can be fluent in language if they study it every day with friends, and teachers in school. My parents gave me a basic knowledge of Russian. I could speak Russian, but I couldn’t read and write. In school I was taught how to read and write. I studied Russian for 10 years in my school.

Now, my granddaughter is 20 months old. She lives in Germany. My daughter teaches her the Russian language. She reads her Russian books, speaks with her in Russian. She wants the baby to know her native language. She is sure that the baby will learn German without a problem because she lives in the language environment.

In my opinion, the process of studying a language is based on the theories of Chomsky and Skinner at the same time. We, people, are born with some brain for language, but it should be constantly taught.

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Danny Tran
ESL 91
Fall, 2001

All normal children regardless of their culture go though a series of stages in the development of spoken language. Language acquisition is the process of learning a native language. The acquisition of language is accomplished through reinforcements and punishments. B.F Skinner, a behavioral psychologist and Noam Chomsky a linguist are two men who share greatly differing views and ideas about the acquisition of language in humans. Skinner’s theory was that language must be taught to children so they could learn. On other hand, Chomsky’s theory was that the human brain contains a language acquisition device (LAD), which automatically analyzed the components of speech a child hears. My theory is somewhat in between Skinner’s theory and Chomsky’s theory. I believe that a child’s brain contains an LAD but that the child has to be taught language to learn it.

B. F. Skinner was a psychologist. His theory was that children must be taught all aspects of language. Children learn the rules of their native language by imitating what they hear in their environment. Genie’s case lends some support to Skinner’s theory. Genie was a young girl who was locked in a small closet-like room at the age of 18 months by her schizophrenic father. Her mother was blind and was also abused by the father, so she was unable to help Genie. After her father died, Genie was finally freed from the closet. She was 13 years old. Genie had been locked up from the time she was 18 months old to the age of 13. Genie was unable to produce language because she had not been exposed to language. Genie showed that children couldn’t learn language without being taught.

Noam Chomsky was a linguist. His theory was that children are born with a human brain that contained a LAD. In other words language ability was inborn. Chomsky believes that children had an innate knowledge of the grammar of their native language. Children don’t have to be taught the grammar of their native language. When they speak as an infant, they automatically produce utterances that are grammatical in their native language. Chomsky’s studies of child language were support for his theory. According to Chomsky, children produce utterances in the correct word order without ever having been taught specifically. Chomsky showed that children have LAD in the brain.

After I reviewed both Chomsky’s and Skinner’s theories, I had a theory of my own. My theory is that children do have an inborn LAD. However, the children also need to be taught to be able to learn what the language means, to pronounce the language right and to understand the language. They need to be taught language so that they can expand and use the correct grammar of the language.

I have experience and observation of my own sister growing up to support my theory. When she was about 16 months old, she had some LAD in her brain. Without being taught she was able to produce utterances and made some words on her own. For example she said mom, dad, like, no, and yes, but she couldn’t say more words. My parents and I had to teach her in order for her to know what the language means and to pronounce the right way. With our help she could pronounce correctly, understand and learn more. She could put words together and make up the whole sentence. She could be able to use the language again.

I believe that some children have more LAD than others. Children have DNA from the parents, so that they get the inborn LAD from the parents. Children that have more LAD could pronounce more words and use them. The other children that don’t have as much LAD still could use words but less than the other children. Children get the gene from the parents and the environment, and then they need the support of the parent to show them how to use language correctly. The children can learn easily and also they all need to be taught to be able to understand and use the language correctly.

Although how children learn to use language is not perfectly understood, most explanations involve both the observations of Chomsky and of Skinner. Children have to copy what they hear and learn to use. My theory combines both Skinner’s and Chomsky’s theories. My experience supports my theory. Children contain a LAD in the brain but also have to be taught to learn the language.

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