Editing Universal grammar (section)

== History ==
Between 1100 and 1400, the theoretical work on matters of language significantly expanded in western Europe, its typical social context being the teaching of grammar, logic, or [[theology]], producing a vast literature on aspects of linguistic theory, such as a 13th century theory of grammar known in modern times as [[Modistae|modism]], although no assertions were made in the texts about "a theory of language," as such. While not much work was done on the evolution of languages, [[Dante]] and [[Roger Bacon]] offered perceptive observations.<ref name=routen>{{cite web |url=https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/language-medieval-theories-of/v-1/sections/multiple-signification-metaphor-as-a-key-tool-in-ordinary-communication-roger-bacon |title=Language, medieval theories of|last=Ebbesen |first= Sten|publisher=Routledge |website=Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy|url-access=subscription|access-date=4 May 2025}}</ref> Bacon had a complex notion of grammar, which ranged from the teaching of elementary [[Latin]] through what he termed "rational grammar," to research on the so-called languages of sacred wisdom, i.e. Latin and [[Ancient Greek|Greek]].<ref name=stan>{{cite journal|url= https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/roger-bacon/#BacUniInd|last1=Hackett|first1=Jeremiah|title=Roger Bacon |journal=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date=4 May 2025}}</ref> Professor of Latin literature Raf Van Rooy quotes Bacon's "notorious" dictum on grammar used to denote regional linguistic variation and notes Bacon's contention that Latin and Greek, although "one in substance," were each characterized by many ''idioms'' (idiomata: proprietates). Van Rooy speculates that Bacon's references to grammar concerned a "quasi-universal nature of grammatical categories," whereas his assertions on Greek and Latin were applications of his ''lingua/idioma'' distinction rather than a generalizing statements on the nature of grammar.<ref name=roo>{{cite book |last=Van Rooy|first=Raf |date=November 2020|title=Language or Dialect? The History of a Conceptual Pair  |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pages=100–110 |chapter=Chapter 3: The exception to the rule: ''Lingua'' and ''idioma'' in Roger Bacon’s thought |isbn= 9780198845713}}</ref>{{rp|28-44}} Linguistics professor Margaret Thomas acknowledges that "intellectual commerce between ideas about Universal Grammar and [second language] acquisition is not a late-20th century invention,"<ref name=thomas1>{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Margaret |date=Autumn 1995 |title=Medieval and Modern Views of Universal Grammar and the Nature of Second Language Learning |journal=[[The Modern Language Journal]]|publisher=[[Stanford University]] |volume=79|issue=3 |pages=345-55|doi=10.2307/329350}}</ref> but rejects as "convenient" the interpretation of Bacon's dictum<ref group=n>"Grammar is substantially one and the same in all languages, despite its accidental variations." Bacon in ''[[Summa Grammatica]]'' (ca. 1240-1250).</ref> by generative grammarians as an assertion by the English polymath of the existence of universal grammar.<ref name=thomas2>{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233700210_Roger_Bacon_and_Martin_Joos_Generative_Linguistics'_Reading_of_the_Past |last1=Thomas |first1=Margaret |date=December 2002 |title=Roger Bacon and Martin Joos: Generative Linguistics' Reading of the Past|journal=Historiographia Linguistica|volume=29|issue=3 |pages=339-78|doi=10.1075/hl.29.3.05tho}}</ref>

The concept of a generalized grammar was at the core of the 17th century projects for [[philosophical language]]s. An influential work in that time was ''[[Grammaire générale et raisonnée|Grammaire générale]]'' by [[Claude Lancelot]] and [[Antoine Arnauld]]. They describe a general grammar for languages, coming to the conclusion that grammar has to be universal.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Grammaire generale et raisonnee, 1660.|last=Lancelot, Claude, 1615?–1695|date=1967|publisher=Scolar Press|oclc=367432981}}</ref> There is a Scottish school of universal grammarians from the 18th century that included [[James Beattie (writer)|James Beattie]], [[Hugh Blair]], [[James Burnett, Lord Monboddo|James Burnett]], [[James Harris (grammarian)|James Harris]], and [[Adam Smith]], distinguished from the philosophical-language project.

The article on grammar in the first edition of the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' (1771) contains an extensive section titled "Of Universal Grammar."<ref name=brita>{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/1771EncyclopediaBritannicaNLS/First%20edition%2C%201771%20-%20Encyclopaedia%20Britannica%3B%20or%2C%20A%20dictionary%20of%20arts%20and%20sciences%2C%20compiled%20upon%20a%20new%20plan%20%E2%80%A6%2C%20Volume%202%2C%20C-L/page/n717/mode/2up|edition=1st |publisher=[[National Library of Scotland]] |date=1771 |title=Of Universal Grammar|journal=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |volume=2 |pages=728-9 |access-date=1 May 2025}}</ref>

In the late 19th and early 20th century, [[Wilhelm Wundt]] and [[Otto Jespersen]] claimed that these earlier arguments were overly influenced by [[Latin]] and ignored the breadth of worldwide language real grammar", but reduced it to universal [[syntactic category|syntactic categories]] or super-categories, such as [[grammatical number|number]], [[grammatical tense|tenses]], etc.{{sfn|Jespersen|1965|p=53}}

[[Behaviorist]]s, after the rise of the eponymous theory, advanced the idea that language acquisition, like any other kind of learning, could be explained by a succession of trials, errors, and rewards for success.<ref name="toolmodule">{{cite web
| url = http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/capsules/outil_rouge06.html
| title = Tool Module: Chomsky's Universal Grammar
| author = Chomsky, Noam
| access-date = 2010-10-07
}}</ref> In other words, children, according to behaviorists, learn their mother tongue by simple imitation, i.e. through listening and repeating what adults say. For example, when a child says "milk" and the mother will smile and give milk to her child, then, as a result, the child will find this outcome rewarding, which enhances the child's language development. <ref>Ambridge & Lieven, 2011.</ref>