Editing Language Acquisition (section)

== <span style="color: #FFFFFF;">Understanding</span> ==
The central debate in language acquisition is how children learn so much so fast.

'''Nativism vs. Empiricism''':
* '''Chomsky (Nativism)''': Argued that language is too complex to be learned by simple association. He proposed that children are born with "Universal Grammar"—a set of parameters that get "flipped" based on the language they hear.
* '''Skinner (Behaviorism/Empiricism)''': Argued that language is learned through reinforcement and imitation. This view was largely superseded by the "Cognitive Revolution," as it couldn't explain how children produce sentences they've never heard before.

'''The Stages of Acquisition''':
1. '''Cooing/Babbling (0-12 months)''': Testing the vocal apparatus.
2. '''One-Word Stage (12-18 months)''': Holophrases (using one word to mean a whole sentence).
3. '''Two-Word Stage (18-24 months)''': Beginning of syntax (telegraphic speech).
4. '''Fast Mapping (2-6 years)''': Children learn new words after just one or two exposures. By age 6, a typical child knows about 10,000 words.

'''The Critical Period''': Cases like "Genie"—a child kept in isolation until age 13—show that if a child is not exposed to language during the first few years of life, they may never fully acquire complex syntax, even with intensive training later.
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