Problem
There is a debate between empiricist (nurture) vs. nativist (nature) views of language acquisition.
A. Describe the differences between these two views of how children acquire language, as well as some of the traditional arguments for each view.
B. Then, describe the argument from "the poverty of the stimulus", and say how it provides support for the nativist position.
C. Finally, describe the theory of our innate linguistic knowledge, or Universal Grammar, that has emerged as a consequence of such arguments: what form does this innate knowledge take? How does this knowledge interact with our experiences to yield knowledge of a particular language (say, English)? How can we study the contents of Universal Grammar?