empiricism (n.)

An application in LINGUISTICS of the general sense of this term in philosophy to refer to a view of language, and especially of language ACQUISITION, in which sense experience is seen as the ultimate source of learning. It is opposed to rationalism, which asserts that knowledge about language can derive from sources other than sense experience. In empiricism, language acquisition is seen as a process of generalization from experience; in rationalism, it results from maturation of a language faculty (‘organ’) governed by various INNATE principles.