Piaget与Chomsky的一场争论与语言习得的基本问题

The Debate between Piaget and Chomsky and the Basic Question of Language Acquisition

当代认知科学研究的一个焦点是语言知识的起源问题。以Chomsky为代表的生成语法认为,语言习得必须依赖遗传的语言知识。以Piaget为代表的认知学派强调语言输入在语言习得中的决定作用,认为语言习得不需要遗传信息,语言知识是在人与语言环境的作用中获得的。这些对立的观点实际上来自上世纪70年代Piaget与Chomsky进行的一场直接交锋。本文介绍了那场争论中双方的观点、分歧和论证,以使我们更好地看清当代认知科学的来龙去脉和未来走向。

One of the focuses in the cognitive sciences is the origin of language： how language is acquired, Chomsky,the founder of generative linguistics, insists that human linguistic capacities are a highly specialized part of human genetic inheritance, a kind of innate knowledge that has only to unfold. Piaget, the founder of the cognitive development theory,contends that they are a product of general constructed intellectual development and that innateness is not needed to ensure the formation of language. These conflicting views can be traced to the debate between Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky in the 1970s. The present paper discusses the opposing views held by the two sides and their arguments in order to shed light on the origin, coming of age and the future development of cognitive sciences.