简析语言习得机制

“Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east， they came upon a plain in the Lands of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another， ‘come ， let us make bricks ， and burn them thoroughly. So the LORD scattered them abroad and from there over the face of all the earth， and they left off the city. Therefore， it was called Babel， because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth， and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” （Genesis， Bible；2000： 14）

When we talk about language， out of question， the first thing appeared in our minds is the words we used in our daily life. The language could promote the communication of each culture and provides inception of creation for mortals. Subsequent to the existence of language， people can communicate and understand each other； further more， with the development of civilization， words became more indispensable and basic.

As refer to the language acquisition， the first appeared in peoples mind is Chomsky， who contribute a historic theory and also， rushed the constructional linguistics in American. He created a new way to research language and of course， the formation of TG. The quite special thing he described about is the LAD， the innate ability as Language Acquisition Device.

“The LAD was described as an imaginary‘black box existing somewhere in the human brain. The‘black box is said to contain principles that are universal to all human languages”.（ Dai Weidong； A New Concise Course on Linguistics for Students of English：146）. That is to say， there is a pre-existed language ability of the child since he or she was born. The language device is ready to be combined with a specified language.

Firstly， the life is still a myth since Darwin theory appeared. Actually， some problems cannot be solved even according to his The Aspects of Resource. When others challenged Chomsky and he said the“innate”is everywhere. For instance， human beings has two elbows， two eyes， one mouth， and all these are innate， but not grow up or create later. That is reasonable. He appoints that the cognitive system is more complex and more valuable to study. Therefore， the focus should be in the cognitive system combining with the scientific study of organ---the brain. There is a “machine” inside of the human body and makes people know or learn something after he or she was born. That is the aim of the research of linguistics. Since we know the reason， can people find the way to solve the problem of “atypical language development”， the abnormal ones， such as hearing impairment， mental retardation， autism， stuttering and aphasic， etc. For human is a social and cooperative animal， communication is first and foremost for humans. And Chomskys theory is not with the some religious element and it is material.

Secondly， the innate theory is based on some important evidences， but not only with the imagination.

The child can learn mother tongue easier and faster. Actually， the process to learn native language is not so painful and difficult. Since the kids live the life， they experienced the language， but not only “learn” them.

No matter what the background or environment the children have， the language level they have only within minor differences.

This also helps solving the “ logical problem” that wandering in behaviorist view. “ The logic problem means the fact that children come to know more about the structure of their language than they could reasonably be expected to learn from the language samples they hear.” This is key to the inner of the childrens brain.

The LAD would not functioned by itself； that is to say， the outside environment is the trigger of its work. The speaking community determined the development of LAD .

From above evidences， as Chomsky said himself， linguistics can be treated as a part of the Psychology， however， that is not to say we would give up to study languages themselves， but to comprehended the truth of the human brain and the essence of human beings. That is also not deny that we can treat linguistics as an independent subject， indeed ， the various languages are quite attracting and interesting， and all of them worth of study， the purely study. As a part of the Psychology means it concerns a lot with it in the following reason：It is said that language is the coat of our thinking. Although there are more than 1000 languages （include the tribe languages） in the world， we still eat， sleep and speak. Even the hieroglyphic or symbol language， they conveying meanings， to interpret our minds. To understand the mind is connected with Psychology.

As people claim more about the differences of vary languages， Chomsky saw clearly about the commonness. I think it is quite precious because he can see the unity of human kind. The LAD combined us together.

References：

[1]Dai Weidong.He Zhaoxiong.A New Concise Course on Linguistics for Students of English[M].Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press， 2002.

【作者簡介】童玥，四川大学锦江学院。