THE UNIVERSAL HYPOTHESIS

Prepared by: Hannah B. Grepo

BSED-ENGLISH2A
The Universal Hypothesis
• States that language acquisition is governed by
the way in which natural language are organized.

• Certain universal linguistic properties influence

the order in which the rules of a specific
language are acquired.

• It is linguistic rather than general cognitive

factors that determine acquisition.
Universal Grammar
• Noam Chomsky
• All languages have basic structures in common, these are
called universals.
• Grammar offer a certain limited number of possibilities .

Example:
WORD ORDER

SUBJECT VERB OBJECT

• 75% of world’s languages use this order

Language Innateness
• Language is an innate faculty
• We are born with a set of rules about language in our
heads.
• It’s wired into the brain
• The system of principles, conditions, and rules that
are elements or properties of all human languages.
• Universal Grammar is a theory of knowledge; it’s
concern is with the internal structure of the human
mind.
• The nature of this knowledge is inseparable from the
problem of how it is acquired.
 Linguistic Universal in Second language
Acquisition
• First:
- Linguistic properties of the Target Language,
the language to be learned may vary according to
the degree of effort needed to acquire them. The
complexity of these language are determinate by
their condition as universal.
• Second:
- Linguistic language can be used to predict which
differences lead to difficulty and which ones do not.
Source and Reference:
• Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar
Link: https://
books.google.com.ph/books?id=2Q25nuAQ-oQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=th
e+universal+hypothesis&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj5pNqhwcnsAhUFzmE
KHRqnD1MQ6AEwAHoECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=the%20universal%20hypo
thesis&f=false
• Universal Hypothesis SLA
Link:
https://wenku.baidu.com/view/e2a71f8471fe910ef12df8d3#:~:text=The%20'
universal%20hypothesis'%20states%20that,a%20specific%20language%20ar
e%20acquired
.