THEORY OF FIRST ACQUISITION

(Language Acquisition Device)

Introduction
Language acquisition device and universal grammar theory is stemming from the
work of Chomsky (1981). This is a theory which has not been specially constructed for the
purpose of explaining second language acquisition. It is developed to account for the
structural properties of the world’s language: The basic assumption of this theory is that
human languages are in fact considerably alike in their grammatical properties, and where
they vary they do so in quite restricted ways.
One reason why this view is attractive is that it has to do with first language
acquisition. All infants acquire their eat rapidly (barring physiological impairment, and given
normal exposure to language).They attain a state of subconscious knowledge about the
language they are exposed to which closely resembles other native speakers' subconscious
knowledge about the language.
This section addresses the concept of language acquisition and universal grammar. This
also tries to discuss what scholars say about the accessibility of universal grammar in second
language acquisition.

1. Language Acquisition Device and Universal Grammar

Noam Chomsky is perhaps the best known and the most influential linguist of the second
half of the Twentieth Century. He has suggested that when children begin to listen to their
parents, they will unconsciously recognize which kind of a language they is dealing with and
they will set his grammar to the correct one this is known as "setting the parameters
(Chomsky, 1988). It is as if children were offered at birth a certain number of hypotheses,
which they then match with what is happening around them. They know intuitively that there
are some words that behave like verbs and others like nouns, and that there is a limited set of
possibilities as to their ordering within the phrase.
Chomsky (1986) then has proposed a term univerasal grammar (UG) to refer to the same
thing, innate knowledge of universal language. UG According to Chomsky consists of a
system principles and parameters which apply to all language. There is a network of binary
switches of parameters , which get set by particular linguistic input. Certain language data
will trigger the proper parameters-settings for one language , while different language data
will trigger the parameter-settings for another language.( Chomsky ,1986; 1988)
Chomsky gives a number of reasons why universal grammar is the basis upon which all
human languages build. Among the most important of these reasons is the ease with which
children acquire their mother tongue. He has proposed several reasons as follows:
1) Children are exposed to very little correctly formed language. When people
speak, they constantly interrupt themselves change their minds, make slips of the
tongue and so on.This claim is usually referred to as the argument from poverty
of the stimulus,
2) (2) Children do not simply copy the language that they hear around them. They
deduce rules from it, which they can then use to produce sentences that they
 have never heard before .They do not learn a repertoire of phrases and sayings,
as the behaviourists believe, but a grammar that generates infinity of new
sentences. (Steinberg, et. al., 2004: 294-295; Sav Troike, 2006: 21-22)
UG according to Chomsky, allows four basic categories (such repre as: verbs, nouns,
adjectives, prepositions) and phrases which are associated with these categories (such as:
verb phrases, noun phrases, prepositional phrases, etc). He also views that UG generally
operates relatively dependent of other faculties of the acquisition of language. Thus, he
contends that UG alone is sufficient for the acquisition of language. Intelligence (logic or
reason) is not needed in the acquisition process. (Chomsky, 1986; Steinberg, son 1998;
Steinberg, et. al., 2004).
2. Accessibility of UG in Second Language Acquisition
The first principle says that SLA has no access to UG; the second says that SLA has direct
access to UG; and the third states that SLA has indirect access to UG.
a. SLA Has no Access to UG
This position suggests that UG is unavailable for SLA (or learning). Some other
cognitive learning strategy must be activated. Some scholars such as Cook (1988),
Cook and believe that SLA has no access to UG. Their views have been by the
Fundamental Difference Hypothesis (FDH) (Bey-Vroman, 1996). The FDH claims
that there are differences between child and adult language acquisition.
Internal difference between the two is caused by differences the internal cognitive
state of adults versus children, not by some external factor or factors (e.g. insufficient
input). Linguistic difference is caused by a change in the language faculty
specifically, not by some general change in learning ability Qualitative difference is
that the domain-specific acquisition system (cf. Chomsky LAD) is not just decreased,
it is unavailable. (Bley-Vroman ,1996: 50) In other words, second language
development is controlled by another system (general abstract skills); the innate
language acquisition system no longer operates in adult.
2. SLA Has Direct Access to UG
In the direct UG access hypothesis , UG is just as active in SLA as it was in
first language.There are no clear distinctions regarding UG-- the differences may lie
in the fact that now since parameters are set via parameters in L2 must too either be
set accordingly (whereas the two subsets of parameter settings set along side each
other), where there must be some sort of parameter re-setting for L2. In this view,
like L1 acquisition learners are considered to be unaware of what they are learning
(unconscious learning) and need nothing other than positive evidence natural input)
to set the values of parameters and to instantiate principles.
The proponent of this principle believes the original UG principles and
perimeters with their open setting for child L1 acquisition are also applicable to the
adult L2 learner; the claim by this approach is that L2 grammar is constructed by the
adult learner in the same way as L1 gained by the child. Moreover, UG in its original
entirety should be directly active in principle.
3. SLA Has Indirect Access to UG
One obvious possibility is that the innate system that guides child acquisition no
longer operates in adult foreign language learning (or more weakly, that its operation
 is partial and imperfect. Proponent such as Schachter (1988) appeals to the
fundamental differences between L1 and L2 acquisition. He argues that SLA is not
guided by principles of UG in the same ways as L1 acquisition. He describes several
prime evidences of the unavailability of UG in its initial entirety. These become the
striking characteristics of adult L2 acquisition which include the lack of uniform and
complete mastery of L2, wide variability in terms of ultimate achievement, non-
equipotentiality and fossilization (Schachter 1996: 50).
A related approach holds that certain sub-components of UG become either
totally inaccessible or very difficult to access for adult L2 learners. In this view,
positive evidence (input) is still the driving force- but reduced to the extent that L1
now serves somewhat as a filter to L2 obtainment, that is, the implicit knowledge of
L1 mediates L2 throughout all the crucial stages of learning-- particularly with
regards to parameterization. This would suggest that certain L2 learners will have
difficulties with alternative parameter settings-e.g., null subject language type L2
learners will have difficulties accepting the obligatory nature of overt sentential
subjects (as in Spanish to English). (Schachter, 1988)

Summary
Universal Grammar theory (as proposed by Chomsky) claims that all humans (and
thus all human languages) are constrained or limited in what they can do because of
biological traits that are native to human species. Within this given capacity for language,
there are some capabilities that are shared by all languages and some that are not. Those
capabilities or rules that are shared by all languages are called universal grammar or UG. The
UG may be said to consist of a set of limitations or parameters for language.
Chomsky gives a number of reasons why universal grammar is the basis upon which
all human languages build such as the children's ability to acquire well-formed grammar
despite their being exposed to inadequate and impoverished language data, the ease and speed
with which children acquire their mother tongue, the irrelevance of intelligences in language
acquisition.