It has been researched that the process of language acquisition is complex enough to be studied. As it is yet to be proved that how brain functions to acquire language. Language is a complex system made of several rules, then how a child manages to acquire that? According to Behaviourist theory a child learns language from the surroundings, whereas Universal Grammar says that the language faculty is in built in human brain. A child is born with basic grammatical rules of language in his brain.
According to behaviourist theory, a child learns oral language from his parents, relatives and surroundings through a process involving imitation, reward and practice. When a mother interacts with her child , the child listens to her and takes input. Through a trial-error process at the end of the day a child acquires language.
On the other hand according to the mentalist theory (Noam-Chomsky the father of modern linguistics) believes that a child is born with that very language faculty .Each and every language in this world shares some basic universal features. Such as every language has subject-object agreement in sentence. These universal rules are considered to be principles of that language and these rules are inbuilt in human brain. With the help of the finite rules a person can generate infinite number of sentences. According to Chomsky, this universal grammar is nothing but the rules of language. Earlier, this universal grammar was termed as LAD i.e. Language Acquisition Device. Chomsky asserts that this linguistic device exists in human brain to acquire language.
Even though language appears to be very complex system of rules, a child tends to acquire this even at his early stages. Several researches are still going on to define the process of language acquisition. We look forward to future researches for deeper insights into the process of language acquisition.
