QUINE’S TAXONOMY, CHOMSKY’S MENTALISM: A DISCOURSE ON THEORIES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING AND IMPLICATION ON YORUBA LANGUAGE
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Date
2011
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The African Symposium: An online journal of the African Educational Research Network
Abstract
W. V. Quine’s taxonomic and N. Chomsky’s mentalistic theories of language are the two
main rival theories of language learning. Quine argues essentially that what determines how
a particular language is learned and the meaning of words is external stimulation. This may
be verbal or non-verbal. He therefore recasts meaning in terms of stimulation. The stimulus
meaning of a sentence for an individual sums up his disposition to assent to or dissent from
the sentence in response to present stimulation. Opposing to this view is Chomsky’s
mentalistic theory which maintains that the subject matter of language learning, properly so
called, does not consist in the systematic structure of the disposition towards stimulation, but
it is a mental activity which consists in the mental capacity to discover, study and understand
the nature of mental realities of language. The paper argues that neither of these theories,
taken independently, can provide an adequate explanation of language learning. Argument is
then made for holistic theory of language learning. This is to the fact that language learning
can only be adequate when it combines the two theories otherwise inadequate. This,
essentially, is the suggested remedy to the deficient teaching and/ or learning of Yoruba
language.