The idea of Universal Grammar (UG) as the hypothetical linguistic structure shared by all human languages harkens back at least to the 13th century. The best known modern elaborations of the idea are due to Chomsky. Following a devastating critique from theoretical, typological and field linguistics, these elaborations, the idea of UG itself and the more general idea of language universals stan...

This paper argues against the hypothesis of a "phonological mind" advanced by Berent. It establishes that there is no evidence that phonology is innate and that, in fact, the simplest hypothesis seems to be that phonology is learned like other human abilities. Moreover, the paper fleshes out the original claim of Philip Lieberman that Universal Grammar predicts that not everyone should be able ...

In this paper we describe the encoding of a Unification-Based Generalised Categorial Grammar for English, in terms of a default inheritance network of types, implemented with YADU, which is an order independent default unification operation on typed feature structures. We then propose to use this framework to encode a Universal Grammar (UG) and associated parameters, following the Principles an...

Universal grammar(UG) is a list of innate constraints that specify the set of grammars that can be learned by the child during primary language acquisition. UG of the human brain has been shaped by evolution. Evolution requires variation. Hence, we have to postulate and study variation of UG. We investigate evolutionary dynamics and language acquisition in the context of multiple universal gram...

Abstract This article argues that phonological features have no substantive properties, instead, segments are assigned by learning strategies set to the task of devising a computational system for phonology is consistent with requirements UG. I address two problems such substance-free model. The first Card-Grammar problem, which has been suggested argue universal features, on premise that, othe...

A new account of parameter setting during grammatical acquisition is presented in terms of Generalized Categorial Grammar embedded in a default inheritance hierarchy , providing a natural partial ordering on the setting of parameters. Experiments show that several experimentally effective learners can be defined in this framework. Ew)lutionary simulations suggest that a lea.rner with default in...

In his well-known paper, Bley-Vroman (1983) discusses the potentially harmful effect of the comparative fallacy, in which " the linguistic description of learners' language may be seriously hindered or sidetracked by a concern with the target language " (p. 2). In order to avoid the problem, he urges researchers to focus on linguistic descriptions of learners' languages with respect to their ow...

Of ongoing interest within generative grammar is the proper treatment of language variation in terms of parameters. One important recent question concerns the existence of macro-parameters. Baker (2008) outlines three ways to determine whether a parameter is macro or not, one of which relates to the size of effect, or impact of a parameter. The greater the size of effect, or impact a parameter ...

It is widely assumed that human learning and the structure of human languages are intimately related. This relationship is frequently suggested to derive from a language-specific biological endowment, which encodes universal, but communicatively arbitrary, principles of language structure (a Universal Grammar or UG). How might such a UG have evolved? We argue that UG could not have arisen eithe...