Which theory asserts language knowledge consists of universal principles with language-specific parameters across languages?

Which theory asserts language knowledge consists of universal principles with language-specific parameters across languages?

• A. Universal Grammar
• B. Cognitive-developmentalist theory of LA
• C. Innatist theory of LA
• D. Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

Answer: (A)

This item tests the idea that language knowledge is built from universal principles that apply to all languages, with variation explained by language-specific parameters that get set differently across languages. Universal Grammar holds that there are abstract rules shared by all human languages, forming a compact set of constraints on possible grammars. When a child is exposed to a particular language, they don’t learn every detail from scratch; instead, they tune certain parameters—switches in the system that can be set to different values depending on the language input. This explains why children can rapidly acquire complex grammars from limited data: the universal framework narrows the space of possible grammars, and the observed language determines the parameter settings.

In contrast, cognitive-developmentalist theories focus on general cognitive growth rather than a fixed set of universal grammatical principles. The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis distinguishes between subconscious acquisition and conscious learning without positing universal parameters that guide cross-language variation. While Innatist theories share the idea that some knowledge is built-in, the specific account of universal principles plus language-specific parameter settings is most closely aligned with Universal Grammar, which explicitly integrates both universals and parameter-driven variation.