LAD
Language acquisition device or LAD is the innate
human ability to learn a language.It is the key concept in Chomsky’s theory of
UG. According to Chomsky we the humans have the innate capacity called DAD to
learn a language. It is considered as a sort of mechanism or apparatus .The key
features of the LAD are as follows.
The LAD is specis-specific. That means it
distinguishes man from other primats.
The LAD is specific for language learning only
and is opposed to the acquisition of other forms of behaviour or knowledge.
The LAD prestructures the properties of grammar
to a large extent.
The LAD is like a biological organ. Like the
physical organs of the body ,LAD also grows with the maturation of a child’s
mind. That is, in its fundamental character it is innate and determined by the
genetic structure of the organism. Of course, they grow under particular
environmental conditions, assuming a specific form that admits of some
variation.The comparatively crude structures of the child’s sentences may be
that the language faculty in the mind has not yet fully come into being.LAD
itself develops over the time rather than being constant from birth.
Thus, the LAD box is an inventory of principles
and parameters. According to this framework, principles and parameters are part
of a genetically innate universal grammar (UG) which all humans possess,
barring any genetic disorders. As such, principles and parameters do not need
to be learned by exposure to language. Rather, exposure to language merely
triggers the parameters to adopt the correct setting.
