Which perspective on language acquisition can best explain a young child (whose parents speak grammatical English)saying,"Yesterday I goed to the zoo"

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Nativist theory, proposed by Noam Chomsky, suggests that children have an innate ability to learn language, which includes an inherent understanding of grammar. The child's mistake ("goed" instead of "went") indicates they are applying general grammatical rules (adding "-ed" for past tense) to all verbs, which aligns with the idea of an innate grammatical framework that is refined through exposure to their native language, rather than learning language purely through imitation or reinforcement.

Which Perspective on Language Acquisition Can Best Explain a Young