Nativism: Noam Chomsky

Nativism

Main question: what is the cognitive code?

Infant is born with complete world

knowledge

Infants
Infants
Infants
Infants

count
have a concept of objects
have physics concepts
have language

Nativism

Evidence for the claim of complete world

knowledge

Youngsters learn an extremely complex

system (language) effortlessly
Youngsters learn an extremely complex
system (language) in a short amount of
time
Youngsters do not need instruction to
learn their mother tongue

Nativism

Do youngsters who are born deaf can

learn an impoverished language at a level
that is higher than the level they hear?
Youngsters develop Creole from pidgin
Infants do not hear grammar; they hear a
string of words and infer the syntactic
rules language (impoverishment of the
stimulus)
Infants often hear ungrammatical
sentences, yet they learn the grammar

Nativism: Learning
Paradox

Fodors learning paradox: one learns

something only if one knows it in advance

To learn a language you have to know

that language in advance

What you know is at a higher level than

what you learn

Nativism

In the case of language, infants are

born with:

a universal grammar (UG) - a data

base of grammar
language acquisition device (LAD) hypothesis tester

Nativism

If the child is born with a LAD and

no UG, he doesnt have anything to
hypothesize on

If the child is born with a UG and

no LAD, he cannot hypothesize
about the language

Nativism

The UG is the cognitive code.

Unique to humans
Universal for humans

If one can describe it, one has

cracked the cognitive code.

Nativism

Relations between learning and

development

Only learning (deductive)

No development

Similar to classical behaviorism

Nativism: Language
Acquisition Device

hypothesize the grammar in the

language you are exposed to

see if the hypothesis fits the grammar

if yes, continue with the hypothesis

if no, make a new hypothesis

Nativism

If that is how children learn

language, it is impossible, in
principle, to develop to a higher level

How can you hypothesize something

that is not already there?

Nativists say you cannot

Nativism

As a consequence, it is best to
build the most powerful system so
that it is there in infancy

Argument between
Piaget and Chomsky

CHOMSKYS POINT:

Chomsky: One cannot construct more

powerful structures because hypothesis
testing cannot take place at a level that is
higher than ones highest level
e.g., conservation: a child cannot
hypothesize conservation if he is at the
intuitive stage

Argument between
Piaget and Chomsky

Chomsky: One cannot construct more powerful

structures because hypothesis testing cannot
take place at a level that is higher than ones
highest level

Fodors learning paradox

e.g., conservation: a child cannot

hypothesize conservation if he is at the
intuitive stage

Piaget Rebuttal

Piaget: I dont have to accept

hypothesis testing as the
mechanism for learning

I believe children learn and

develop through disequilibrium

Piaget Rebuttal

I can describe learning and development in

Child development (ontogeny)

History of disciplines (Piaget & Garcia; Kuhn)

My system allows me to describe two

disparate developments: ontogeny and
historical development

Piaget Rebuttal

You, the nativists cannot describe the

development of disciplines in history in
terms of innate modules within
humans
Bottom line:

I can describe two developments and you

can describe one
I dont believe the description you give to
language acquisition

Nativism: Modularity
1. Encapsulation - it is impossible to
interfere with the inner workings of a module.
2. Unconscious - it is difficult or impossible
to reflect on the operations of module.
3. Speed - modules are very fast.
4. Shallow outputs - modules provide
limited output, without information about
theintervening steps that led to that output.

Nativism: Modularity
5. Obligatory firing - modules operate
reflexively, providing predetermined
outputs for predetermined inputs
regardless of the
context.
6. Ontogenetic universals - modules
develop in a characteristic sequence.
7. Localization - modules are mediated
by dedicated neural systems.

Nativism: Modularity
8. Pathological universals - modules
breakdown in characteristic fashion
following insult to the system.
9. Domain specificity - as discussed
above.