innateness (n.)

An application of the philosophical use of this term in PSYCHOLINGUISTICS, referring to the view that the child is born with a biological predisposition to learn LANGUAGE. The innateness hypothesis (or nativist hypothesis) argues that the rapid and complex development of children’s GRAMMATICAL COMPETENCE can be explained only by the hypothesis that they are born with an innate knowledge of at least some of the UNIVERSAL STRUCTURAL principles of human language. This view (nativism) has received considerable support in GENERATIVE linguistics, but controversy abounds over the nature of the early linguistic knowledge which might be attributable to the child, and whether this knowledge can be specified independently of other (e.g. cognitive) factors. The approach contrasts with those that view language in purely behavioral terms.