Abstract
The “logical” argument for innateness is based on the premise that the principles and parameters of Universal Grammar are unlearnable, either because young children are deemed unable to deduce abstract rules from the language input or because the relevant evidence is not present in the input. It is possible to turn the argument around, however. In addition to the “core” defined by UG, the grammar of any particular language also contains a “periphery”: a large body of language-specific, often highly idiosyncratic statements which specify the actual forms used to convey grammatical distinctions, the specific contexts in which these forms occur, and many other crucial “details”. Since such statements cannot be innately specified and yet form part of the mature speaker’s competence, they must be learnable. We might call this the logical argument for learnability.
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Dabrowska, E. (2000). Could a chomskyan Child Learn Polish?. In: Perkins, M., Howard, S. (eds) New Directions In Language Development And Disorders. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4157-8_9
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