Universal Grammar — Wikipedia Summary

Universal grammar (UG) is the theory of the innate biological component of the language faculty, usually credited to Noam Chomsky. The basic postulate is that there are innate constraints on what the grammar of a possible human language could be.

Evidence

Poverty of the stimulus argument: children acquire grammatical rules that cannot be learned from input alone. Children acquiring English yes-no questions ignore simpler linear-order rules in favor of hierarchical structure rules, suggesting innate knowledge that grammar involves hierarchical structure.

History

Precursors: Port-Royal Grammar (17th C), Scottish universal grammarians (18th C), Wundt. Behaviorists (Skinner) argued language acquisition via trial and error — rejected by Chomsky.

Theories

Within generative grammar: Hagit Borer — fundamental syntactic operations universal, variation from lexicon. Optimality Theory — innate universal constraints, variation from ranking. Hauser, Chomsky & Fitch (2002) — UG consists solely of capacity for hierarchical phrase structure (recursion). Three leading hypotheses: (1) FLb homologous to animal communication; (2) FLb uniquely human adaptation; (3) only FLn (recursion) unique to humans.

Creole Languages

Sometimes cited as support for UG (Bickerton’s language bioprogram theory). Children exposed to inconsistent pidgin input create their own original creole language with regular grammar.