The document discusses the universal grammar hypothesis proposed by Chomsky. It argues that human languages share many important universal properties that are part of our biological endowment, as evidenced by the universality, complexity, and rapid acquisition of language across cultures. It presents arguments that the faculty of language is specific to humans and not shared by other species, as seen by the lack of any non-human communication systems resembling human language. The document also discusses how this innate universal grammar interacts with linguistic input to produce the grammar of particular languages.

1. Studying grammar through
explanation
• No memorization, drills, or fears
What is Grammar? • Approaching grammar from a linguistically
informed explanatory perspective:
– trying to understand how language works and why
it works the way it does (focusing on sentence
structure)
– language/grammar as a state of mind of a language
speaker
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Knowledge of grammar The ‘Wug’ Test
• We form sentences without consciously thinking • This is a wug.
about them. We do this fluently at a very early
age.
• Yet, we naturally cannot analyze our own
sentence structure. • These are two …
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More unconscious grammar What do we know when we know a
knowledge language?
• Another novel word: flub • Sounds
• How sounds are combined to form larger
– [fl] is an acceptable consonant cluster in units
English
• Words (lexicon, idiosyncratic info)
– Flubs eat chocolate. • Word order (in phrases and sentences)
– John flubbed. • Meaning
• How language is used
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2. Components of Grammar Syntax
• Phonetics (sound systems of languages) • Question formation:
• Phonology (how sounds are combined with one
another) – The presidential candidate will give an expensive
• Morphology (lexicon: words idiosyncratic info)
words, dinner in Lee’s honor.
Lee s honor
• Syntax (how words are combined to form larger – Will the presidential candidate give an expensive
units: phrases and sentences) dinner in Lee’s honor?
• Semantics (meaning)
– *Will give the presidential candidate an
• Pragmatics (language use in specific contexts)
expensive dinner in Lee’s honor?
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3 Questions about Knowledge of
Semantics
Grammar
• Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
[anomaly] • What does this knowledge consist of?
Meaningless boring ideas disappear quickly. • How is it acquired?
• How is it used?
• The fertilizer killed the plant but it didn’t
die.
[contradiction]
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Universal Grammar Hypothesis Arguments for the Universal Grammar
Chomsky (1955): • Universality
• Species-specificity
• Human languages share many important properties. • Complexity
Hypothesis: The universal properties of language
• Productivity
are part of the human make up (part of our
biological endowment). • Translation
• Acquisition
• Language Birth (Nicaraguan Sign Language)
• Brain Impairments
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3. Universality Species-specificity
• Almanacs publish ‘literacy rates’ for different
countries.
No other species
• Why don’t they publish ‘speaking rates’? speak anything that
(percent of people who learn t speak their
( t f l h l to k th i resembles h
bl human
native language) language.
• No cultures, societies or people are known that
do not speak any language.
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Complexity Productivity
• There are no primitive languages. • The ‘wug’ test
• Never heard sentences:
• All languages exhibit complexities of some
sort, though the ki d th t can vary from
t th h th kind that f – The frog jumped off the golden dome
dome.
language to language.
• Never ending sentences (recursion):
– I met a man that was walking with a woman
that was holding a baby that was eating a
banana that…
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Translation Acquisition
• Every child acquires language with the same
• Every human language can be translated speed and proficiency, no matter what his/her
into any other. educational, cultural, and socio-economic
bac g ou d s
background is.
(e.g., English and N
( E li h d Navajo).
j )
• No need for special instruction.
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4. Language Birth Brain Impairments
• POOR language; GOOD other cognitive skills:
• Nicaraguan Sign Language
– Broca’s Aphasia
– Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
• Children, when placed in a group, produce
• GREAT language; POOR other cognitive skills:
l h ii kill
language even without any linguistic input. – William’s Syndrome
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Arguments for the Universal Grammar
(UG)
• Universality • What about language variation?
• Species-specificity
• Complexity
• Productivity
• Translation
• Acquisition
• Language Birth (Nicaraguan Sign Language)
• Brain Impairments
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Particular Grammars &
Universal Grammar (UG)
• Particular Grammar (e.g., grammar of English)
UG + input
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