chapter 20What is there in Universal Grammar? On innate and specific aspects of language

Abstract

AbstractOne of the most controversial and influential aspects of Chomsky’s legacy is the hypothesis that there is an innate component to language, which he named universal grammar (UG) (Chomsky 1965), in homage to the rationalist thinkers in whose footsteps he was walking. I would like to present and discuss results obtained from a variety of sources, mostly in neighboring fields within cognitive science, that bear on this central issue.