First Language Acquisition Theories _Cognitive Theory
Theoretician(s)
• Piaget (1970s)
Development, Hypotheses and assumptions
Hypothesis:
Language is a subordinate part of cognitive development.
• Object permanence
• Children develop in many ways simultaneously
• Children learn the world around them first (Language is mapped onto an individual's set of prior cognitive structures, and the
principles of language are no different from other cognitive principles.)
• Temporal development
Counter evidence:
Children whose sensory-motor developments are not completed were able to learn language. (p. 385)
REFERENCES
Gleason and Ratner (1998). Psycholinguistics. Second Edition. Forth Worth: Harcourt Brace Collage Publishers.
Keenan and Comrie (1977). "Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar." Linguistic inquiry.8 (1), 63-99.
