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Universal grammar (UG) in linguistics, is the theory of the genetic component of the language faculty, usually credited to Noam Chomsky. The basic postulate of UG is that a certain set of structural rules are innate to humans, independent of sensory experience. With more linguistic stimuli (e.g., conversations between the parents of a child) received in the course of psychological development, children then adopt specific syntactic rules that conform to UG.[1] It is sometimes known as "mental grammar", and stands contrasted with other "grammars", e.g. prescriptive, descriptive and pedagogical.[2][3] The advocates of this theory emphasize and partially rely on the poverty of the stimulus (POS) argument and the existence of some universal properties of natural human languages. However, the latter has especially not been firmly established, as some linguists have argued languages are so diverse that such universality is rare.[4] It is a matter of empirical investigation to determine precisely what properties are universal and what linguistic capacities are innate.
- ^ Noam Chomsky. "Tool Module: Chomsky's Universal Grammar". Retrieved 2010-10-07.
- ^ Thornbury, Scott (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Macmillan Education. p. 92. ISBN 1-4050-7063-3.
- ^ Szendroi, Kriszta (16 December 2014). "First Words: How do children develop language?". Word of Mouth. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
- ^ Evans, N. (2009). The Myth of Language Universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. In Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Cambridge University Press.