On innateness: Nec rasa est, nec omnia tenet

This paper presents a skeptical view of innateness claims made by linguists, notably Chomsky (e.g., 1980), and by some psychologists. Although the topic of innateness is much discussed, there is in linguistic circles a clear consensus that linguistic research can help us to discover aspects of language-relevant biological endowment and, for some linguists too, there is the notion that supposed biological/psychological constraints on what might be learned should have a shaping influence on the form of linguistic theory. The suggestion is made that as little as possible should be specified by the grammars of particular languages and as much as possible should be specified within a theory of universal grammar, the latter being a representation of innate endowment