The
standard nativist answer
lLanguage is unique because our brains are unique.
lWe (and no other species) are born with a specialised
innate cognitive
mechanism for learning language.
lLanguage is the way it is because our biology constrains
it to be that way.
lIt’s the job of linguistics to deduce the structure of
the language acquisition
device: Universal Grammar.
l(And that’s it!)
Language
Acquisition
Device
Primary
Linguistic Data
Grammar
