Chomsky and UG, GG

Chomskys theory of learning: The metatheory of linguistics.

The combination of social and cognitive elements that serve as triggers to learning under
Chomskyan perspective is notable for giving more emphasis on the study of how the brain
works during the process of language acquisition. This leads to the creation of the linguistic
theory. For this focal reason, Chomsky views the theory of linguistics as a metatheory
where mental, psychological, and cognitive processes supersede a mere behavioral input.
Chomsky argues that language is comprehensive: It involves listening, accepting and rejecting
information, conceptualizing the input, organizing it, and producing further language within
the parameters of the social context where the language takes place is being shared, and
within the limits of our natural capabilities. However, there is an additional dimension that
ultimately separated Chomsky from his contemporaries, and it is the idea that all these
processes occur in a part of the brain where a proposed apparatus enables all this to occur:
The Language Acquisition Device.

The Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

The metatheory of linguistics, or language learning, according to Chomsky consists of
two premises: The first premise states that humans are born with an already-established body
of common grammatical knowledge, or intelligence which can also be described as a capacity,
or a competence for language. This intelligence, which he calls linguistic corpus, is triggered
by social discourse and interaction. As interaction takes place and new language is acquired,
the second premise of Chomskys theory states that a specific place in the brain which he calls
the Language Acquisition Device or LAD. Chomsky proposes that the LAD exists inside
the brain. It is, theoretically speaking, a congenital organ that enables the skill of acquiring
language. This organ would allow individuals to use minimal rules and regulations of
language to create more words, and more sentences.
The premise of his philosophy lays Chomskys observations of children, and his
preoccupation about how steadfastly children acquire language. Chomsky observed that the
manner in which children acquire language, make similar mistakes, and develop further
words, must obey a general mechanism that with a specific tendency of operation. These
social and cognitive components of the process of language learning imply Chomskys
integration of psychology, human development, and linguistics as part of his theory. That is
the way that Chomsky defines learning. Yet, once the learning takes place by the means
that he suggested, what happens to the acquired knowledge? Concisely, how does he define
the term intelligence?

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Chomsky on intelligence: Generative grammar, universal grammar

The general definition of intelligence is the ability to learn facts and skills and apply
them, especially when this ability is highly developed. In a Chomskyan linguistic
perspective, intelligence is defined a foundation of language that all humans already possess
as part of our biological make-up. This innate body of knowledge is what he calls universal
grammar or the linguistic corpus. This body of language knowledge changes through time,
as the individual makes additional social connections, acquires new words, or decides how to
make use of language depending on the circumstances in which it is required. This ability to
transform the language and change it through time makes it generative in nature.

The process of transformation of universal to generative grammar

The concept of universal grammar could be described cognitively as an innate foundation
and a capacity for language usage and production. It is found within the brain, where the
Language Acquisition Device (LAD) proposed by Chomsky would be triggered into action
when the individual is exposed to language. This exposure leads to the acquisition of new
words which, as they are learned, fall unequivocally in a pattern of use that is general to the
group who is speaking. An example of this pattern would be the subject-verb-predicate
model. The implication rests in that, as we socialize, our internal capacities already in place
will act as a word catcher that will automatically place the words in a pre-set order shared
everyone within our own language system and will continue to grow and expand. The process
of establishing the language rules, and expanding language further through time and level of
complexity leads to deem it as generative grammar

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