Structure in the languages of the world

Is there something that all languages of the world share? Is our capacity for language innate and somehow hard-wired in our brain or is it essentially based on social learning, interaction and imitation? And what role do such questions play in the field of linguistics and for theories about grammar? In this unit we investigate the grammatical phenomena found in a wide range of languages of the world and the basic tools we can draw on for their analysis and description. The unit combines this exploration of grammar with an enquiry into how children learn language and the field of linguistic typology and universals.