Behaviorism and Language Acquisition

Abstract

To what extent can human language learning be described, explained, and predicted from basic learning principles? Following the Skinner/Chomsky debate, many scholars avoided invoking basic learning principles, concentrating instead on cognitive approaches. We argue that these cognitive approaches have often ended up incorporating basic learning principles, either implicitly or explicitly. In the meantime, research on the communication among nonhuman animals and on language learning in clinical populations has shed light on how basic learning principles might contribute to learning communicative systems. We look forward to future research testing how far basic learning principles can go to explaining human language learning.