... Chomsky responded to the behaviourist theory in 1959, when he stated his own theory based on linguistics: language is an innate ability for which there is a language acquisition device (LAD) in the brain, and every child is equipped with inborn knowledge about syntax and semantics (structured knowledge)- for example that actors perform actions on objects. "Learning is primarily a matter of filling in detail within a structure that is innate," (Chomsky, 1976). The linguistic theory provided much of the impetus for subsequent research into language. The third theory on which functionalism draws is cognitive, based on the work of Piaget. Here, the child must be in possession of the semiotic function in order for language development to occur. These theories have provided much data which functionalists have used, as well as a starting point for a new theory. In functionalist theory, the child is seen as having an innate pre-disposition ...

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