Noam Chomsky was an influential linguist who proposed the theory of Universal Grammar. He believed that children are born with an innate language acquisition device (LAD) that allows them to learn language quickly and easily. According to Chomsky, the LAD contains a set of innate linguistic principles and parameters that are shared across all human languages. When children are exposed to speech, their LAD is activated and allows them to deduce the grammatical rules of their native language from limited experience. However, Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar has been criticized for focusing only on syntax and ignoring other linguistic domains like semantics, pragmatics, and social factors involved in language acquisition.

2. A Presentation by Dhanya Vijay. P.V

3. Noam Chomsky was an American linguist,
philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician,
political commentator and activist.
He is also known as the “father of modern
linguistics.”
Chomsky is of the view that children are
born with an innate propensity for language
acquisition, and that this ability makes the task
of learning a first language easier than it
would otherwise be.

4. The human brain is ready naturally for language in
the sense when children are exposed to speech,
certain general principles for discovering or
structuring language automatically begin to operate.
Chomsky originally theorized that children were
born with a hardwired language acquisition
device(LAD) in their brains. He later expanded this
idea into that of Universal Grammar, a set of innate
principles and adjustable parameters that is common
to all languages.
The LAD is activated when the child enters the
world.

5. The child exploits its LAD to make sense of
the utterances heard around it, deriving from
this ‘primary linguistic data’- the grammar of
the language.
LAD is exploited to explain the remarkable
speed with which children learn to speak, and
the considerable similarity in the way
grammatical patterns are acquired across
different children and languages.
According to Chomsky, the presence of
Universal Grammar in the brains of children

6. allow them to deduce the structure of their
native languages from mere exposure.

8. Universal Grammar:
According to Chomsky UG focuses to
answer three basic questions about human
language:
1. What constitutes knowledge of language?
2. How knowledge of language is acquired?
3. How is knowledge of language put to use?
Answers for 1 and 2:
UG claims that, a set of principles and
parameters of grammar is inherited
genetically by all human beings.

9. Chomsky’s proposed principles are
unvarying and apply to all human languages
similar to one another.
The biologically endowed UG equip the
children naturally with a clear set of
expectations about the shape of the language .
It also helps the child to construct an
internalized grammar quickly when they are
exposed to a particular language.

10. Competence and Performance:
Linguistic competence is concerned with the
child’s grammar, the linguistic input and
construction of the grammatical structures.
Performance deals with the nature of child’s
rule system; the psychological processes the
child uses in learning the language.

11. Criticism of Universal Grammar:
Primary concern of UG is only syntax.
Semantics, Pragmatics and Discourse are
completely excluded.
Social and psychological variables are
ignored.