Language and Humanity: Is It More Than Mere Instinct?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22364/BJELLC.04.2014.06Keywords:
Language Instinct, Universal Grammar, Generative Grammar, Chomsky, Pinker, Innateness of Language, Language Acquisition TheoriesAbstract
Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker have brought to the linguistic arena the terms Universal Grammar (UG), Generative Grammar (GG) and Language Instinct. UG/GG are based on the premise that human babies are born with an intact, generalized language instinct – language somehow is already preconfigured in their brains – so that much of the complex structures of human language is encoded in the human genetic inheritance. In this paper I look at the theories of language instinct, UG and GG to determine if these theories have a grounding in empirical science brought about by new technologies and new research. I also ask the question: If we indeed do have a language instinct, should it have an impact on how we view languages and teach them?
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