Page "Psycholinguistics" Paragraph 12

There are essentially two schools of thought as to how children acquire or learn language, and there is still much debate as to which theory is the correct one.

The first theory states that all language must be learned by the child.

The second view states that the abstract system of language cannot be learned, but that humans possess an innate language faculty, or an access to what has been called universal grammar.

The view that language must be learned was especially popular before 1960 and is well represented by the mentalistic theories of Jean Piaget and the empiricist Rudolf Carnap.

Likewise, the school of psychology known as behaviorism ( see Verbal Behavior ( 1957 ) by B. F. Skinner ) puts forth the point of view that language is a behavior shaped by conditioned response, hence it is learned.