traditional argument for [[universal grammar]] follows from [[poverty of the stimulus]]: ![[poverty of the stimulus#^argument]] people have issue with most of these points. summarized in [[2003TomaselloBiologicalCulturalOntogenetic]] and summarized again here: | | [[generative grammar]] | [[usage based linguistic]]s | | ------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | the nature of [[linguistic competence]] is | primarily [[form]]al and [[abstract]] | primarily [[discourse\|communicative]] / [[symbol]]ic | | speakers use [[grammar rule]]s that | are purely [[form]]al [[abstract]] [[human language grammar universal]]s | vary in [[abstract]]ion and depend on [[pragmatic]] factors eg [[intention]] | | child [[language acquisition\|acquires language]] by | collecting [[dataset]] and running [[hypothesis test]]s against [[grammar rule]]s | [[theory of mind\|intention reading]], [[imitation learning]], and other [[human cognitive skill]]s | | [[primary linguistic data]] takes the form of | a [[dataset]] of [[utterance]]s | [[intention]]al [[discourse\|communication]] | | the [[poverty of the stimulus]] argument | provides evidence for [[universal grammar]] | misinterprets data and has many plausible explanations besides [[universal grammar]] | | [[human language]] specific [[grammar rule]]s are learned by | [[falsify]]ing [[principles and parameters\|linguistic parameter]]s ("linking") | [[pragmatic]] processes, [[inductive bias]]es, [[metaphor\|analogy]], and [[statistical learning]] | | [[linguistic innate]] knowledge takes the form of | [[universal grammar]] | [[human cognitive skill]]s | | [[represent\|latent representation]]s of [[grammar rule]]s | are [[time invariant]] and [[abstract]] ([[continuity assumption]]) | transform from item-based [[archetype]]s into general [[abstract]]ions | | [[idiom]]s and "special constructions" | must be [[human memory\|memorized]] apart from core grammar | are a core part of [[language acquisition]] | ^criticism plus what does "[[linguistic competence|mental grammar]]" even *mean*? is it a [[belief state]]? learned [[represent]]ation? somehow [[encoding]] into [[synapse|synaptic]] weights? also "linking problem" still unresolved: eg to set "Head" parameter ([[head]] final vs initial): child needs to identify [[lexico|phrase]] heads. how is that even possible? not like speakers are snapping their fingers after saying each phrase head. and parameter-setting would be expected to be more discrete; typical generativist response is [[linguistic performance]] factors (ad hoc and un[[falsify]]able for now) [[Occams razor]] seems to be in favour of [[usage based linguistic]]s: [[universal grammar]] seems to need so much adjustment to accommodate [[human language]]s beyond [[Europe]] (ie [[Eurocentric]]) ![[2025-07-16 Kempner lunch and learn linguistics talk#sources]]