The connection between psychology and language was first explored most explicitly by Noam Chomsky. Chomsky was a pioneer in the field of psycholinguistics who asserted that people have a "universal innate ability" to understand language ("Noam Chomsky," 2001). He named this concept "language acquisition device," or LAD ("Noam Chomsky," 2001). His view was that we have an inherent ability to recognize "underlying syntactical relationships" within a sentence ("Noam Chomsky," 2001). He demonstrated this by showing that children could understand a sentence whether it was in declarative, interrogative, or some other form ("Noam Chomsky," 2001).
We express ourselves through language by choosing words that signify the thoughts we wish to convey. In doing so, we are limited by the richness of the particular language we are using. For example, English is notorious for offering few choices, while Greek offers many variations of meaning. In English, there is only one basic word for "love," while Greek has at least five.
Williams Syndrome is a genetic disorder that creates mental retardation or learning difficulties along with physical and physiological abnormalities ("NINDS Williams Syndrome Information Page," 2008). Sufferers have low average to average language skills and limited conceptual-relational vocabulary, and over 50% have ADD or ADHD ("NINDS Williams Syndrome Information Page," 2008).
Language is not directly related to IQ. Studies of children that IQ-discrepant and those that are IQ-consistent in speech and language demonstrate a lack of support for the IQ-discrepancy model (Coulter & Pasternack, 2002, p. 17).
In the 19th century, two German psychologists who found the relationship of language with the brain were Wilhelm Wundt and Hermann Ebbinghaus. Wundt's studies emphasized "the physiological relationship of the brain and the mind" ("Wilhelm Wundt," n.d.), and Ebbing
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