View source for Language acquisition device

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The '''Language Acquisition Device (LAD)''' is a theorized concept of the  organic [[human brain|brain]] to (in part or whole) function as a [[congenital]] device for learning and processing [[symbolic]] language (ie. [[language acquisition]]). First proposed by [[Noam Chomsky]], the LAD concept is a component of the [[Psychological nativism|nativist theory]] of language which dominates contemporary [[cognitive linguistics]], which asserts that humans are born with the instinct or "innate facility" for acquiring language. 

Chomsky based its existence partly on the vast complexity of language he was familiar with as a linguist, attempting the reconcile the question of "[[infinite use of finite means]]" proposed by [[Wilhelm von Humboldt]]. At the time it was conceived (1960&ndash;1965), the LAD concept was in strict contrast to [[B.F. Skinner]]'s [[behavioral psychology]] which emphasized principles of learning theory such as classical and operant [[conditioning]] and imitation over biological predisposition. The interactionist theory of [[Jerome Bruner]] and [[Jean Piaget]] later emphasized the importance of the interaction between biological and social (nature and nurture) aspects of language acquisition, the dominant theory among psychologists today.

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[[Category:Language acquisition]]
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