A Companion to Wittgenstein on Education

2016

“For, on Chomsky’s view—shared by nativists generally—to acquire a language, one must know the principles of language. Call this Chomsky’s ‘Principle Requirement’. The poverty of the stimulus argument crucially rests on this misleading requirement; that is, on the false assumption that the only way to acquire and use language in all its grammatical diversity is to know it in all its grammatical complexity.” (P.579) - Moyal-Sharrock

“But surely the fact that children know language by age three need not imply that children know linguistic principles by age three; what it does—more plausibly— imply is that knowledge of linguistic principles is not needed at all to know or use a language.” (P.579) - Moyal-Sharrock

Moyal-Sharrock, Danièle. Page 579, Page 580, Page 595, Universal Grammar: Wittgenstein versus Chomsky, 2016, in: A Companion to Wittgenstein on Education, Springer, 2017.