Definition for View source for Language acquisition device

The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a postulated "organ" of the brain that is supposed to function as a congenital device in language acquisition. First proposed by Noam Chomsky, the LAD concept is an instinctive mental capacity which enables an infant to acquire and produce language. It is component of the nativist theory of language. This theory asserts that humans are born with the instinct or "innate facility" for acquiring language. Chomsky has gradually abandoned the LAD in favour of a parameter-setting model of language acquisition (principles and parameters).