Annani K. answered • 07/13/23
MA in Psychology and PhD Candidate with an emphasis on consciousness.
There are several theories for childhood language development, including the Behaviorist, Nativist, and Interactionist perspectives.
B.F. Skinner believed that language developed via operant conditioning, When an infant makes a sound parents may mimic the sound back at the child, thus reinforcing the behavior. Imitation and reinforcement are the two primary ways, therefore, that an infant acquires language under Behavorist theories.
Noam Chomsky is the founder of the Nativist approach which states that language is innate, and is "etched into the structure of the brain" and that "children assume much responsibility for their own language learning" (Berk, 1997, p.359).
Meanwhile, those who support Interactionist theories state that language develops due to a "strong desire to understand others and to be understood by them," (Berk, 1997, p. 366). Language may develop in order to make sense of complex environments or complex situations.
In all probability, language develops using all of these principles. Victor of Aveyron (a wild child found at the age of 9) never developed language, largely due to a lack of exposure to others, lending support to each of the aforementioned theories. For more about Victor of Aveyron, please see Prato (2016).
Berk, L. E. (1997). Child development.
Prato, A. (2016). A special case of philosophical reflection about the origin of language: Victor, the wild child of Aveyron. Theoria et Historia Scientiarum, 13, 55. https://doi.org/10.12775/ths.2016.004
