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Abstract

This chapter focuses on linguistic universals embodied in Universal Grammar (UG), a characterization of the innate properties of the language faculty. Approaching language universals from a minimalist perspective, it begins by contrasting I-universals (innate properties of UG) with E-universals (universals in the Greenbergian tradition). It argues that even if every language displayed some property P, it would not imply that P is an I-universal, whereas P would be considered an E-universal. The chapter considers the relative importance of the following three factors in accounting for I-universals: (a) genetic endowment, (b) experience, and (c) language-independent principles. It concludes that the minimalist perspective suggests that I-universalsâthe key properties of UGâmay not be genetically encoded but instead may derive from language-independent principles of good design.

Keywords: universal grammar; faculty of language; minimalism; linguistic universals; E-universals; language universals; I-universals

@incollection{hornstein09LUchapter,
  author={Norbert Hornstein and Cedric Boeckx},
  title={Approaching Universals from Below: I-Universals in Light of a Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory},
  year={2009},
  pages={79-99},
  chapter={5},
  editor={M.H. Christiansen and C. Collins and S. Edelman},
  publisher={Oxford University Press},
  booktitle={Language Universals},
  url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/hornstein09LUchapter.html},
  keywords={universal grammar; faculty of language; minimalism; linguistic universals; E-universals; language universals; I-universals}
}