Final answer:
The statement that contradicts Noam Chomsky's nativist approach to language development is (c) Language acquisition heavily relies on environmental exposure. This opposes Chomsky's theory about innate language faculties and universal grammar being central to language learning.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that contradicts Noam Chomsky's nativist approach to language development is (c) Language acquisition heavily relies on environmental exposure. Chomsky's nativist theory posits that language acquisition is primarily driven by an innate language faculty, often referred to as the Language Acquisition Device (LAD), which suggests that children are born with an inherent ability to learn language. In contrast, the view that language development is heavily reliant on environmental exposure aligns more with behaviorist perspectives, such as those suggested by B.F. Skinner, who argued that language is learned through reinforcement and interaction with the environment.
Noam Chomsky emphasized the idea that children possess a universal grammar, which is a set of structural rules inherent to all humans that aid in language acquisition. The presence of a critical period for grammar development is also part of Chomsky's theory, indicating that there is an optimal time in early life when the acquisition of language occurs most readily. Thus, suggesting that environmental factors are the major determinants of language acquisition would contest Chomsky's view that the process is largely biologically predetermined and internally driven.