CHILDREN’S ACQUISITION OF LINGUISTIC STRUCTURES: AN INVESTIGATION OF UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR’S PRINCIPLES AND PARAMETERS
Keywords:
Evidence, I-language, Language Acquisition Device (LAD) , Parameters, Principles, Universal Grammar (UG)Abstract
The question of how children acquire language has been a central concern of Linguistics, generating debate among linguists holding different views. The study aims to explore role of Universal Grammar as proposed by Chomsky in children’s first language acquisition with a focus on Principles and Parameters model. The research analyzes observable data from two children having two different L1 which are English and Urdu. The study reveals humans’ inbuilt mechanism of grammar which allows construction and interpretation of expressions in their first language despite limited linguistic input. The study also shows language specific parameters set by the children.
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