EXPLORING LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

HARMONY AND CONFLICT BETWEEN COGNITIVISM AND INNATISM

Abstract

In recent decades, the process of language acquisition and development by children has aroused the interest of researchers from different theoretical schools, especially in the field of psycholinguistics. Given the complexity of children's linguistic manifestations, analyzing this process is a challenge, but it is essential to understand how the mother tongue is acquired in a short period of time. Therefore, this article aims to carry out a comparative analysis between the cognitivist theories, by Jean Piaget (1975), and the innatist theories, by Noam Chomsky (1977), based on a literature review and based on a qualitative approach of nature. basic. The analysis reveals that, despite the differences, both Piaget and Chomsky agree that language development depends on external stimuli. While Piaget highlights the role of the environment and social interaction, Chomsky emphasizes the activation of an innate capacity. Thus, we conclude that these theories complement each other in studies on language acquisition.