1. Miss. Mona AL-Kahtano

2. The proponent of this theory: Chomsky When: (1956-1960) Basic assumption: Humans has a specific, innate capacity for languages. It is known as the Nativist Theory because they suggested that there are a special mechanism in the human brain dedicated to the acquisition and use of language. Chomsky referred to that mechanism as Language Acquisition Device (LAD) which is the innate (i.e. inborn) Miss. Mona AL-Kahtano

3. He also believed that human languages differ only superficially but that underlying principles are more uniform. He was interested in a theory of Universal Grammar rules. UG is theory of linguistics suggesting principles of grammar shared by all languages, thought to be innate to humans. Miss. Mona AL-Kahtano

4. Chomsky proposed two levels of linguistic processing. – The initial level operates using phrase-structure rules (PSR) The PSR are universal and describe the basic relationships underlying all sentence organization. - The second includes transformational rues (TR) TR governs the arrangement of the Phrase Structure element on a specific language and hence are not universal. Miss. Mona AL-Kahtano

5. Chomsky stated that a complete grammar must have three parts: syntax, phonology, and semantics. Syntax is the most important element according to Chomsky because it enables language users to generate sentences. Phonology and semantics are “interpretive”. Miss. Mona AL-Kahtano

6. What are the limitations of the Nativist Theory?? Take 3 minutes and discuss it with your classmates. Miss. Mona AL-Kahtano

7. Limitations It emphasized the syntactic structures and ignores phonetics, semantics, pragmatics. It fails to address the semantics structures which language forms depend on heavily. Miss. Mona AL-Kahtano

8. It seems inappropriate to describe single-word and two-word levels of development. It is based on adult data which may result in missing important structures and under evaluating children’s knowledge and capabilities. It deemphasizes the importance of enviroment and early cognitive growth. Miss. Mona AL-Kahtano