This paper examines the fierce debate between the
rationalist and the empiricist theorists on the issue of language acquisition
which has captured the imagination of the linguistic world for decades. It looks at how although the rationalists' concept of specific language mechanisms in the brain has prevailed for many years, new research by
connectionist theorists has tilted the balance towards the empiricists' approach. It provides a detailed comparative analysis of these two competing approaches and explores their application in children's discourse to assess their validity. It also discusses the work by the connectionist theorists and the implications on the future of linguistic research in the area of first language
acquisition.