Editing Universal grammar (section)

== Overview ==

The term "universal grammar" is placeholder for whichever [[domain-specific]] features of [[linguistic competence]] turn out to be innate. Within [[generative grammar]], it is generally accepted that there must be some such features, and one of the goals of generative research is to formulate and test hypotheses about which aspects those are.<ref name ="WasowHandbookUniversality">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Generative Grammar |encyclopedia=The Handbook of Linguistics|year=2003|last=Wasow|first=Thomas|author-link=Tom Wasow|editor-last1=Aronoff|editor-first1=Mark|editor-last2=Ress-Miller|editor-first2=Janie|publisher= Blackwell|url=https://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/BPL_Images/Content_store/WWW_Content/9780631204978/12.pdf|doi=10.1002/9780470756409.ch12|page=299|isbn=978-0-631-20497-8 }}</ref><ref name = "PesetskyUG">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Linguistic universals and universal grammar|encyclopedia=The MIT encyclopedia of the cognitive sciences|year=1999|last=Pesetsky|first=David|author-link=David Pesetsky|editor-last1=Wilson|editor-first1=Robert|editor-last2=Keil|editor-first2=Frank|publisher=MIT Press|doi=10.7551/mitpress/4660.001.0001 |pages=476–478|isbn=978-0-262-33816-5 }}</ref>  In day-to-day generative research, the notion that universal grammar exists motivates analyses in terms of general principles. As much as possible, facts about particular languages are derived from these general principles rather than from language-specific stipulations.<ref name ="WasowHandbookUniversality"/>