English 515: Theories of English Grammar
Term Paper
Topic
Over the last 40 years, linguists, especially Noam Chomsky, have advocated that much of our knowledge of language is innate. In other words, human beings are prewired for language acquisition; they are born with a Universal Grammar that underlies the specific grammars of all human languages. Over this same period, linguists have accumulated an impressive amount of evidence in support of the Innateness Hypothesis, much of which is discussed in various places in your textbooks.
Instructions
Write a clearly organized, detailed, and convincing argument supporting the innateness hypothesis. Write as if you were presenting the paper to someone who knows little about the topic.
Although I will be more concerned with the content of the paper rather than style, I expect the paper to adhere to Edited American English. In addition, the paper should be at least eight double-spaced pages (not counting the title page or the page of references)have one inch margins on all sides, and be written in a size 12 font.
You are not required to use any sources other than the textbooks for the course. Consequently, citations may be fairly informal. However, you should still create a page of references, especially if you choose to use additional sources. If you wish to cite, use the following format as an example. "A sentence is not a chain but a tree" (Pinker, 1994, 97). I do not object to your using quotes from the textbooks, but do so judiciously as you are trying to convince me that you know what you are writing about.
The paper is due on December 01.
