LAD
Language Acquisition Device, Chomsky's hypothetical innate mental mechanism that enables children to acquire language rapidly from limited environmental input.
Real World
A child who has never been taught the past tense rule spontaneously produces 'runned' or 'goed' — these overgeneralisation errors suggest an internal grammar-building mechanism rather than simple imitation of adult speech.
Exam Focus
Use overgeneralisation errors as key evidence for the LAD; they show children apply rules rather than merely imitating, scoring well for AO1 accuracy.
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