Language Acquisition - Skinner & Chomsky   Term Paper ID:27988 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Comparison of B.F. Skinner & Noam Chomsky's theories on language acquisition. Looks specifically at values & problems of each.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Comparison of B.F. Skinner & Noam Chomsky's theories on language acquisition. Looks specifically at values & problems of each. Paper Introduction: Introduction One of the issues of psychology is language acquisition, and different theories of how this process takes place have been offered. Each theory has its good points and its bad points, and none as yet seems to be definitive in explaining this complex learning experience. Two of the important theories are those of B.F. Skinner and Noam Chomsky, and they can be compared for their values and their problems. B.F. Skinner Skinner discusses the issue of language acquisition in his overall context of behaviorist psychology. He notes that language was acquired relatively late in the development of the human species, and this involved a remarkable change as the Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. For Skinner,language is behavior that has a special characteristics only because it isreinforced by its effects on people, first on other people, and then on thespeaker him or herself. Skinner Skinner discusses the issue of language acquisition in his overallcontext of behaviorist psychology. For one thing, language has a creative aspect in whichambiguities are balanced in ways that convey meaning in spite of theambiguities: "Whatever a habit-structure is, it's clear that you can'tinnovate by habit, and the characteristic use of language, both by aspeaker and a hearer, is innovation" (1 3). Skinnersays that the contingencies are different and that they generate manyimportant differences in the behavior which have long been obscured bymentalistic explanations. It's this relationship between the data available, and the knowledge of the language which results from the child's mental activities, which constitutes the data for the study of learning- -of how the transition takes place from the input data to the resulting knowledge (1 2). Skinnerdraws a distinction between "language" and "verbal behavior." He notesthat psychologists speak of the "acquisition of language" in the child andnotes how language is structured out of words and sentences that expressmeanings, desires, needs, ideas, emotions, and propositions. For Skinner, then, the acquisition of language is a matter of operantconditioning, just as is all learning. He says it isquite impossible to formulate as a system of habits or as a network ofassociations the processes which will account for the sound-meaningrelation that we all know we have mastered intuitively when we learnEnglish. Chomsky's formulation has certain good points: 1) it makes a stronglink between the environment of the speaker and the acquisition oflanguage; 2) it provides for relationships between different languages thatshow a similar mode of thought on the part of speakers everywhere and thatthus would explain the acquisition of language in different societies andat different time periods; and 3) it helps explain the acquisition and useof language as an ongoing process and as one in which the speakerparticipates as innovator. We know, or we can discover, what kind of data is available toit, and the first question we must try to answer is: what kind of mentalstructure does the organism develop when that evidence is presented to it?"(1988: 1 2). Skinner further notes that the way a speaker depends upon thepractices of the verbal community of which he or she is a member, whichdetermines whether a verbal repertoire is rudimentary or displays anelaborate topography under many subtle kinds of stimulus control:"Different verbal communities shape and maintain different languages in thesame speaker, who then possesses different repertoires having similareffects upon different listeners" (89). New York: Alfred A. Language and Politics. Language acquisition is the resultof exposure to a speaking community, but learning is not merely a matter ofimitation. Chomsky sees the acquisition of language as a process ofinput-output, what he calls a Cartesian view of language acquisition andlanguage structure. Chomsky states that this is different from the behaviorist stimulus-response conception, which he says can only lead to a system of habits, anetwork of associations or some structure of a similar sort. Skinner and Noam Chomsky, and they canbe compared for their values and their problems.B.F. Introduction One of the issues of psychology is language acquisition, and differenttheories of how this process takes place have been offered. This extended the range of the human social environment. Knopf, 1974. Two of theimportant theories are those of B.F. He states: "We have an organism of which we knownothing. He sees verbal behavior as behavior first ofall, as noted, and because of its special character by being reinforcedthrough its effects on people, it is free of the spatial, temporal, andmechanical relations which prevail between operant behavior and nonsocialconsequences: "If the opening of a door will be reinforcing, a person maygrasp the knob, turn it, and push or pull it in a given way; but if,instead, he says, 'Please open the door,' and a listener respondsappropriately, the same reinforcing consequence follows" (89). About Behaviorism. He notes that language was acquiredrelatively late in the development of the human species, and this involveda remarkable change as the species' vocal musculature came under operantcontrol. It is rather a matter of operant conditioning as certainbehaviors are reinforced by community acceptance, by the understandingshown of what is being communicated. He has shownthat he believes as a result of his study of languages that there arecertain underlying structures common to all languages, indicating as wellthat there are certain things in these structures which the human mindresponds to in language, thus linking all languages and the idea oflanguage itself. Skinner explains the reinforcing nature of language and the way itrelates to operant conditioning and learning in general by giving theexample of opening a door. The theory also has certain bad aspects: 1) itpoints to the sources of language acquisition and the mechanisms oflanguage acquisition without really explaining the process that takesplace; 2) it presumes underlying modes of thought in language withoutidentifying or examining them; and 3) it does not make clear what thesocial role of language acquisition may be or whether there is such a role.Conclusion Both theories offer interesting ideas for speculation, but neither canbe considered definitive. Skinner's approach also has a number of bad aspects: 1) itnecessitates accepting the premises of operant conditioning, which are onlysketchily given here but which have a number of ramifications of particularconcern to those who see it as a deterministic psychology proscribing freewill; 2) it presupposes links between specific verbal behaviors and socialconditioning that seems to make language acquisition a matter of social andcultural conditioning while also stating that the social environment wasshaped by the development of language in the first place; and 3) it isvague about the role of the speaker as listener though it seems to valuethat role highly.Noam Chomsky Many people forget that Noam Chomsky is a linguist because he is somuch better known as a political commentator and expounder. Each theoryhas its good points and its bad points, and none as yet seems to bedefinitive in explaining this complex learning experience. Chomsky explains: The input-output situation is this: a child who initially does not have knowledge of a language constructs for himself knowledge of a language on the basis of a certain amount of data; the input is the data, the output--which of course is internally represented--is the knowledge of a language. For Skinner, the human being first ofall makes sounds just as do other animals: "Like other species, it had upto that point displayed warning cries, threatening shouts, and other innateresponses, but vocal operant behavior made a great difference because itextended the scope of the social environment" (1974: 88). ReferencesChomsky, Noam. Skinner's approach has several good points: 1) it explains theacquisition of different types of linguistic skills and levels; 2) itapplies in all societies and at all times; and 3) it makes a direct linkbetween the verbal behavior that predates language and languageacquisition. Once we find an answer to this question, we can ask whatsorts of processes have intervened leading form the data available to theknowledge that resulted. New York: Black Rose Books, 1988.Skinner, B.F. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.