Editing Universal grammar (section)

{{Short description|Theory of the biological component of the language faculty}}
{{Redirect|Chomsky's Universal Grammar|the book|Chomsky's Universal Grammar: An Introduction}}
{{Not to be confused with|Linguistic universal}}
'''Universal grammar''' ('''UG'''), in modern [[linguistics]], is the theory of the innate biological component of the [[language faculty]], usually credited to [[Noam Chomsky]]. The basic postulate of UG is that there are [[Innatism|innate]] constraints on what the grammar of a possible human language could be. When linguistic stimuli are received in the course of [[language acquisition]], children then adopt specific [[syntactic rule]]s that conform to UG.<ref name="toolmodule2">{{cite web|url=http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/capsules/outil_rouge06.html|title=Tool Module: Chomsky's Universal Grammar|author=Chomsky, Noam |access-date=2010-10-07}}</ref> The advocates of this theory emphasize and partially rely on [[Poverty of the stimulus|the poverty of the stimulus]] (POS) argument and the existence of some universal properties of natural [[human languages]]. However, the latter has not been firmly established.

Other linguists have opposed that notion, arguing that languages are so diverse that the postulated universality is rare.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Nicholas |last2=Levinson |first2=Stephen C. |title=The myth of language universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science |journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences |date=26 October 2009 |volume=32 |issue=5 |pages=429–48 |doi=10.1017/S0140525X0999094X |pmid=19857320 |s2cid=2675474 |url=https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-myth-of-language-universals%3A-language-diversity-Evans-Levinson/1202032fc27b5da12362d82d48eed5e1c34c166f |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727171702/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1f31/330319b363499ec974b27b7678d96025cde9.pdf |archive-date=27 July 2018|doi-access=free |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0012-C29E-4 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The theory of universal grammar remains a subject of debate among linguists.<ref name=foragainst>{{cite journal |last1=Christensen |first1=Christian Hejlesen |access-date=1 May 2025|title=Arguments for and against the Idea of Universal Grammar |journal=Leviathan  |date=March 2019 |issue=4 |pages=12–28 |doi=10.7146/lev.v0i4.112677|s2cid=172055557 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331525430|doi-access=free }}</ref>