LING 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 28: Universal Grammar, Linguistic Universal, Critical Period

• School: McGill University
• Department: Linguistics
• Course: LING 200
• Professor: Alan Clinton Bale

Document Summary

Big take away messages: all languages are complex, rule-governed systems, no language is better than any other, the innateness hypothesis, certain universal aspects of language are present at birth, universal grammar underlies all human grammatical systems. Universal grammar (ug: the blueprint underlying all human languages, hardwired into human brains (mentalism, linguistic abilities are not taught, there are characteristics that all human languages share. Mentalism vs. behaviorism: mentalism: language is acquired and grows over time, behaviorism: language is learned through stimulus and response. Innateness: many supporting arguments come from topics in language acquisition, poverty of the stimulus, first language acquisition, critical period, more arguments that language is biologically-based come from our understanding of , language and the brain, language disorders. Language acquisition: l1 (first language) acquisition provides support for the idea that language is rule- governed, children learn rules and have distinct grammars from their parents, other important evidence, wug tests, overgeneralization.