Read the passage excerpt:
'In linguistics, universal grammar (UG)—formulated by Noam Chomsky—posits that the human brain possesses an innate, genetically determined Language Acquisition Device (LAD) comprising abstract syntactic principles common to all natural human idioms. Chomsky argued from the 'poverty of the stimulus': children acquire intricate, hierarchically structured grammar rapidly and effortlessly despite being exposed to fragmented, incomplete, and degenerate adult acoustic inputs.'
What is the core argument of the 'poverty of the stimulus' in Chomskyan linguistics?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. Children are exposed to insufficient linguistic evidence to infer complex grammar by empirical induction alone
- Step 1: The passage details the argument: 'children acquire intricate, hierarchically structured grammar rapidly and effortlessly despite being exposed to fragmented, incomplete, and degenerate adult acoustic inputs.'
- Step 2: The input (stimulus) is too impoverished to account for the speed and accuracy of grammatical acquisition without innate principles.
Answer
Children are exposed to insufficient linguistic evidence to infer complex grammar by empirical induction alone.
Why not the others: 'Poverty in socioeconomic background completely arrests language acquisition' confuses economic poverty with the linguistic 'poverty of the stimulus'; 'Languages with small acoustic vocabularies...' is unsupported; 'Childhood language learning requires formal drilling...' is directly contradicted by effortless natural acquisition.
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