EVIDENCE OF INNATE MECHANISMS IN FIRST, SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Resumo

The rapid and effortless way that children acquire their first language is intriguing for researchers. Mainly because their grammatical achievement cannot be explained by the input received. For these reasons, the present paper argues in favor of innate mechanisms which govern language acquisition. The innatist view stands for explaining linguistic acquisition without sufficient instruction or input. Indications of innate mechanisms from the literature are brought into consideration in the present paper. Together with the data provided by the literature, some considerations from Seuren (2013) and Cook (2009) are also made to the traditional view of Universal Grammar. At last, it is claimed that these innate mechanisms are also present in late second and third language acquisition.