Which term describes the innate capacity to learn language in humans?

• A. Interlanguage
• B. Language transfer
• C. Fossilization
• D. Language acquisition device

Answer: (D)

Language acquisition device describes the inborn capacity to learn language in humans, a theoretical mental mechanism proposed by Noam Chomsky that gives children an internal set of linguistic principles to map the language they hear onto. This helps explain how kids acquire complex grammar rapidly from imperfect input, often with little explicit instruction, and why language development is surprisingly similar across diverse languages. The other terms refer to different aspects of language learning rather than an innate faculty: interlanguage is the evolving system a learner constructs as they approximate the target language; language transfer is applying features from one’s native language to another; fossilization is when certain errors become fixed and resistant to correction. So, the language acquisition device best captures the idea of an inborn linguistic ability.